[BobbyB]

ALS patient thankful for gift of time
Walk will raise funds for those with Lou Gehrig’s


DANNY GAWLOWSKI THE BELLINGHAM HERALD
Scott Sessions uses voice-recognition software to type on his computer at his Bellingham home on Wednesday. Sessions was diagnosed with ALS in July 2006. Two months ago, a doctor predicted that Sessions had about six months live. “I have limited time,” Sessions said. “But all of us have limited time, so we all need to use the time we have for the important things.”

WALK TO D’FEET ALS

Where: Bellwether on the Bay.

When: 9 a.m. Saturday.

Why: The three-mile walk raises funds for the Evergreen Chapter of the ALS Association, which supports ALS patients in Washington state, northern Idaho and western Montana.

More information: www.alsa-ec.org.

MARY LANE GALLAGHER
THE BELLINGHAM HERALD



BELLINGHAM — When a friend told Scott Sessions he’d been given the gift of time soon after being diagnosed with ALS, he thought it was the one thing he didn’t have enough of.

Sessions, 55, learned a year ago his weakening muscles were the result of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative and fatal neurological disease more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s. The disease attacks the nervous system serving voluntary muscles, including those that help people breathe, and most don’t live more than five years after learning they have it.

“The Lord has given you time to say and do all the important things,” Sessions’ friend told him.

That gift of time has become a frequent theme in Sessions’ sermons at New Hope Foursquare Church north of Bellingham, where he’s been a pastor for 25 years.

“We all have a limited time,” Sessions said. “You have this window to accomplish the things you want to make sure are said.”

Sessions will be a speaker representing ALS patients at Saturday’s Walk to D’Feet ALS, an annual event that last year raised $75,000 in Bellingham for the Evergreen Chapter of the ALS Association. The funds provide services and support to patients like Sessions and their families; association officials estimate families spend an average of $200,000 a year — after insurance — caring for a family member with ALS.

“You roar through the equipment,” said Julie Sessions, Scott’s wife of 33 years. The ALS Association keeps a collection of equipment patients can borrow for free.

Scott’s wheelchair, for example, is a hand-me-down from another ALS family and will probably go to the loaner collection when he no longer needs it. It includes an electric lift to help him stand his 6-foot-6-inch frame and move to his bed or reclining chair. The former twice-a-week basketball player now needs help turning the pages of a book.

He’s handed off most of the administrative duties at the church but still writes sermons and letters with voice-recognition software on his computer. And he provides spiritual support to people at his house or over the telephone. He’ll retire for good, he said, in mid-October.

Sessions’ disease is “on the fast track,” he said. If it progresses like it has, he said, he has about four months to live.

But the family’s log cabin home remains busy. Their two daughters, in their 20s, have moved home to help care for their father, and their son visits frequently from north Seattle. Sessions has said most of the important things he needs to say by now and treasures simple family time over meals and prayers. Dark humor, he said, keeps things light.

“It’s sad,” he said, “but we laugh a lot.”

He also treasures visits from friends and members of his congregation, and not just for the help they’ve provided around the house and property, he said.

“When you’re ill, your world shrinks,” Sessions said. “I always knew it was a pain to be sick. Now I realize how important it is to reach out to people who are sick. Outside contact is very meaningful.”



Reach Mary Lane Gallagher at 715-2285 or mary.gallagher@bellinghamherald.com

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/255/story/185658.html