ALS victim's advocacy, attitude recalled
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
By TJ Greaney ~ Southeast Missourian
Jim Trickey, a local man who fought a five-year battle with Lou Gehrig's disease, died Saturday at his home in Cape Girardeau.

Friends and family gathered Monday at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Home to remember the man who traveled to China to undergo radical surgery in an attempt to extend his life.

"He just made the best of the situation and he was such an advocate for the cause and became a poster child for it. He kept that attitude to his last day," said his father, James Trickey Sr.

In 2005, Trickey traveled to China, where surgeons implanted four million cells into the frontal lobe of his brain. The stem cells from aborted fetuses were intended to regenerate and possibly repair damaged nerves in his brain.

Similar tests have been conducted in the United States, but never on human patients.

The disease, also known as ALS, causes a progressive degeneration in the central nerve system resulting in the atrophy and lack of control of muscles.

Trickey Sr. said the operation had a temporary positive impact.

"There was an improvement. He went over there and couldn't walk very well, but he spent the next day after the operation walking to Tiananmen Square and to the Great Wall of China. Within months of coming home he had regressed and was back in the wheelchair," he said.

Trickey Sr. wants people to remember someone who kept his dignity and humor while facing the grimmest of diseases.

"He had the greatest attitude and the greatest smile and he was so mischievous. You know throughout his fight he was constantly cutting up with everybody which made it easier for the whole family," he said.

Trickey worked as a building inspector for the city of Jackson and is survived by his wife, Brandy Nichole Trickey. His funeral will be at 10 a.m. today at La Croix United Methodist Church.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

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