A great voice is silenced Steve Lambert, Sun Editor Article Launched: 02/09/2008 06:18:04 PM PST
When I met Leo Greene, I wondered why this Peabody Award-winning broadcaster with the incredible voice was working for a newspaper.

It always seemed to be the other way around, with some of the great TV voices of our time - Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather among them - getting their starts as newspaper reporters.

But among Leo Greene's most endearing traits was a strong sense of tradition and deep-rootedness, which shone through like a beacon in his final days, weeks and months as he shared with the world his battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS progressively destroys motor neurons, usually resulting in death within a couple of years of diagnosis.

On Saturday, it took Leo Greene's life. But like the man whose initials and disease he shared, Leo will be remembered for his iron will under unfathomable adversity.

His award-winning series of columns and video reports, "Leo's Story," chronicled his fight with ALS in an effort to raise awareness of this horrific disease here and, through the magic of the Internet, around the world.

Along the way, he refused to mince words, telling - and showing - it like it is:

"Like an old neon sign, parts of my nervous system are buzzing, flickering, beginning to blink out," Leo wrote in August 2006. "As the neurons die, the muscles follow. My arms grow thin. I limp. My speech slurs. Two hands are needed to shave.

"I suffer from a disease called

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. I received the official diagnosis just 11 days ago. `... and there's no cure,' my doctor said, tucking the phrase into the end of a long sentence."
Time will tell if his candor will have raised enough awareness - and money - to help find a cure. As someone who has lost three close associates to the ravages of ALS during the past decade, I can attest to how badly it's needed.

In his last posting, earlier this month, Leo wrote of an encouraging Italian medical study that showed how the mood-stabilizing drug lithium slowed progression of the disease among ALS patients who were tested.

"These results are fascinating and exciting," Dr. Laura Nist, director of Loma Linda University Medical Center's ALS clinic, told Leo.

With that, he signed off, ending his story with a glimmer of hope.


It's now up to the rest of us to carry his message forward, drawing inspiration from words, images and videos forever preserved online (www.dailybulletin.com/leosstory) and in our hearts.

God bless you, Leo. Even in print, that incredible voice of yours has been heard loud and clear.

http://www.sbsun.com/columnists/ci_8218912