Hill City athletic director battles Lou Gehrig's disease
By Jim Holland, Journal staff Tuesday, April 08, 2008


Cory Ginsbach, athletic director and teacher at Hill City High School poses for a portrait in a hallway at school on Thursday afternoon April 3. Ginsbach suffers from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. (Kristina Barker/Journal staff)



HILL CITY — Cory Ginsbach knows his body is failing. He can see and feel the decline more and more each day.

That’s the tragedy of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, a degenerative nerve disorder that inexorably robs the body of motor function, but leaves the senses intact.

Ginsbach, 49, a teacher, coach and athletic director at Hill City High School, was diagnosed with the disease in August 2007.

He soldiers on in spite of his thickly slurred speech, wearing a brace to support weakening neck muscles.

Simple tasks, such as walking across a room or getting a drink of water, now take some doing.

His handshake remains firm, but it’s an effort to raise his arm to greet a visitor.

“It’s a frustrating disease,” Ginsbach said. ”I try to work out to keep my strength up, but it seems like every day there’s something else that doesn’t work, and once it’s gone, you won’t get it back.”

The first sign of something amiss came in September 2006.

“My speech was a little slurred. That was the first thing I noticed,” he said.

Around Christmas time, he decided to begin a workout regimen. “That’s when I noticed my left arm was going away,” he said.

A family doctor first suspected a stroke, but later referred Ginsbach to a neurologist.

A long series of tests followed, both with doctors in Rapid City and finally at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

“They ran a lot more tests at the Mayo Clinic, but they didn’t really come up with a lot more information,” Ginsbach said.

A definite diagnosis is difficult, because symptoms can vary from person to person and can often mimic other neurological maladies, such as Multiple Sclerosis or strokes.

“There’s no test for ALS,” Ginsbach said. “They basically eliminate (other diseases) is what they do.”

Little was known about ALS until a mysterious weakening of athletic skills forced the end of the career of New York Yankees baseball great Lou Gehrig.

His farewell speech during a July 4, 1939, retirement ceremony at Yankees Stadium included a line that remains one of the most poignant moments in sports history.

“Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth,” Gehrig said.

Gehrig’s diagnosis and subsequent death in 1941 put the public spotlight on the disease which now carries his name, and spurred research into ALS and other neuromuscular disorders.

“I hate to say this, but we almost need a guy like that again, just to bring attention to this disease,” Ginsbach said.

His wife Kim, a Hill City florist, has immersed herself in research.

There is no known cause or cure, but the drug Riluzole, also known as Rilutek, has been shown to slow the progression of ALS, and Kim has found Internet studies indicating more promising results with combining Rilutek with Lithium salts.

After liver tests to determine his ability to tolerate the drug, Cory recently began taking Rilutek.

“With Rilutek, they’re only talking about adding three more months, but we’ll take it,” Kim Ginsbach said.

Ginsbach also participates in an ALS clinic in Rapid City, hosted by the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

“You can get physical therapy, occupational therapy, talk to a neurologist, see anyone you need to see,” Kim said. “That’s been kind of helpful.”

Later this month the Ginsbachs plan to travel to the ALS Center at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

Cory has lost 45 pounds since August. His coaching days are over, but he continues as activities director, while teaching government, history and geography.

“The kids have just been fantastic helping me out. They understand what I can and can’t do,” Cory said. “They pass out papers and they’re quiet in the classroom because they know it’s hard for me to talk.”

Hill City students also organized fundraisers to help the family defray medical expenses.

“We’ve just been overwhelmed by the support and the prayers,” Kim said. “They’ve just bent over backwards here.”

Ginsbach grew up in Buffalo, graduating from Harding County High School. He played football for two years at Huron College, where he earned his teaching degree.

He coached football, basketball and track for four years at Dupree.

He also coached football and basketball and started the cross country and golf programs at Hill City.

The prognosis for ALS patients is grim. Most survive only three to five years after diagnosis. A few have survived for 10 years, and for an even smaller percentage, the disease has gone into remission.

The couple has three grown children, Clint is in Sioux Falls, Wade attends Northern State University in Aberdeen and Katie attends Black Hills State University in Spearfish.

“We’re supposed to be enjoying this time,” Cory said.

“And we are,” added Kim.

The progression of the disease will force Cory to retire at the end of the school year.

“June is going to be rough. I’ve enjoyed teaching more in the last two years than I ever have,” Cory Ginsbach said. “But you have to go day by day. You can’t think about tomorrow.”

“That’s all we hope for,” said Kim. “Is one more day.”


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