Living with ALS
Updated: 11/18/2006 11:31 AM
By: Marcie Fraser



ALS affects 30,000 people in the United States and each year 6,000 more are diagnosed. It affects people in their prime.

The message for Glenn Nichols, a guy who lifted weights most of his life. He is suffering from a terrible, deadly disease. The first sign, he started losing strength in his hands. He spent years getting misdiagnosed. Finally, when he couldn't walk a 1/2 mile, he got a new neurologist. The news didn't surprise him.



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Living with ALS

ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease is where patients become weaker and weaker, our Marcie Fraser brings us the journey of one brave man.







"Here I am six feet tall, 265, 270 pounds and having a difficult time buttoning my blue jeans. It sends a pretty quick message that something is wrong." "I'd already been on the Internet. I'd already searched for symptoms and it kept coming up ALS. I knew," Nichols said.

ALS is a neurological disorder with no known cause or cure. Nerve cells in the brain die, slowly. A year ago he was walking; now he is in a wheelchair.

"My arms are weak,” Nichols said. “I can't raise them much over my shoulder level it."

His breathing is compromised and he can only take shallow breaths. To accommodate ALS patients, St. Peter's hospital built this single floor facility.

Karen Spinelli, who is a manager at the ALS Regional Center said "A person with ALS having difficulty walking moving their hands, unable to push an elevator button, breathing issues. To have to negotiate from one area for their therapies and to another.

Everything is at the center. Glenn gets physical and occupational therapy as well as his pulmonary tests. Nearly any type of equipment needed is loaned to the patients. From wheel chairs to...

"Speaking devices to help people communicate, speech amplifiers so as their voice volume is down," Spinelli said.

The average patient with ALS lives about three years. There is no cure. The focus is on managing and support. The latest technology is called Brain Computer Interface.

"For a person who is totally paralyzed and can't move any muscle in their body, they will be able to project their thoughts onto a computer screen through this technology," Spinelli said.

"The way I was brought up, my whole personality is to grab it by the neck and fight. I got nothing to fight," Nichols said.

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