[BobbyB]

Focus on ALS

By Libby Cluett
lcluett@mineralwellsindex.com

PALO PINTO – Friends and family gathered in a packed Palo Pinto County Courtroom Monday evening to honor Precinct 1 Commissioner Ted Ray during a special session of commissioner’s court.

In the meeting, County Judge Mike Smiddy declared February as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis month and presented Ray with a framed proclamation, stating that Ray “has inspired all of those who know him as he continues to work while coping with the symptoms of ALS.”

“ALS does not affect a patient’s mental capacity, and those affected remain alert and aware despite their physical difficulties,” stated Smiddy’s proclamation.

“We love our PALS – people living with ALS,” said ALS Association’s North Texas Chapter Executive Director Reidel Post. During their presentation to honor Ray and North Texans living with ALS, Post and the association’s Director of Development Kelly Vaughan shared stories of bravery and said that scientists are “fighting feverishly to find a cure.”

After the meeting adjourned, Ray was interviewed for the KTVT-TV (Channel 11) show “Texans With Character.” The news segment examines area people who have made an extraordinary difference in their community or have overcome significant obstacles in their personal or professional lives, according to the KTVT-TV Web site.

According to Beth Ray, the show is expected to air early next week – most likely on the afternoon news with Maria Arita.

In the sometimes emotional interview, Ray told producer Stuart Boslow how he first learned he had ALS and the subsequent progression of the disease.

Ray explained that he first discovered something was wrong during the last week of July 2006.

“I was welding fence for the county on a bridge project. I was very hot and having a hard time trying to talk. Because my right arm was hurting, I thought I had a stroke. A few days later I went to the doctor and she thought I’d had a stroke and started me on meds,” Ray said through a computer, which allows him to articulate his thoughts.

When he saw a neurologist the next week, who also though he had a stroke, Ray said that he told the doctor that Beth wanted him to look at the twitching in his arm.

“He looked at the twitching in my arm, tongue and back and told me I had ALS. I didn’t know what ALS was and asked him what to do. He said, ‘There is no treatment; you will die in two to five years. Then he walked out and shut the door.

“Since then I have met people in Houston who have had it for up to 14 years,” said Ray.

He said that after two series of “several painful tests” at Scott and White and with Dr. Stanley Appel at Methodist Hospital in Houston, he realized he had ALS.

“Once I accepted that I had ALS, I started worrying about my family. That’s the hardest part, because I have a wonderful family,” said Ray.

Ray said that Dr. Appel has said he expects Ray to live for another eight to 14 years.

According to Ray, the disease affects everything but an individual’s brain. Instead, he said, “ALS has turned our world upside down. It started in my right arm. I’ve lost all use of it. Then it went to my left arm. Now I can’t pick up even a pencil. It is working up my legs. Now I can only stand with two people holding me for four to five minutes. I lost my voice. Now, as you can see, I talk with a computer – I have for the past six months.

“I still think the same as always. With ALS you always know how much pain you are in and what parts of your body no longer work,” he said.

Ray said he is a workaholic – something Beth Ray reiterated. She said he begins his county homework when he receives the commissioner’s court agenda. She added that he asks her to make calls to find out information and he examines the issues. Then he prepares any statements he wants to make.

Ray has almost completed his first four-year term as commissioner. When Boslow asked him why he filed for another term, Ray replied, “Because I like serving the county. I told you I am a workaholic. I feel like I am making a difference on getting things done and saving the county money. I have accomplished a lot during my first term.”

He told Boslow that his greatest challenge is not being able to do “anything but think without help” and that his greatest wish was to “get 40 percent of me back.”

Ray said that he wants everyone who came Monday to know that he is glad they came. In addition to being remembered as a good husband, father and grandfather, he told Boslow that he “would like for my friends to remember me as a good and caring friend, as I remember them. I would also like to be remembered as one of Palo Pinto’s greatest county commissioners.”

After the meeting adjourned, the crowd – which had overflowed into the corridors – was treated to a reception to help celebrate the proclamation and visit with Ray and his family. Seemingly pleased and surprised at the turnout, Smiddy noted at the beginning of the meeting that they have commissioner’s court meetings when no one comes, but “when we put ‘party’ on the agenda, everyone comes.”

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