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Keeping On: Jonesville man with ALS to be in spotlight on Web site

By Janice Gaston | Journal Reporter

Published: May 9, 2008


With Larry Kincaid is Lisa Shelley, who was on the Muscular Dystrophy group’s Web site last year.


During his wife's long battle against cancer, Larry Kincaid of Jonesville paid little attention to his own health. He was too preoccupied with caring for Audrey Kincaid, whose lung cancer had spread to her liver and bones, to worry much about the growing weakness in his right arm and hand.

"I more or less just put it aside," he said. But his condition worsened, and he started a round of doctor visits that resulted in a devastating diagnosis -- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Kincaid, 59, got the news on May 1 of last year. Audrey, whom he had looked after for five years, died three days later.

Instead of wallowing in grief and anger, Kincaid accepted his physical challenges and reached out to others who share his plight. He will be one of 31 people spotlighted this month for the online series "ALS: Anyone's Life Story" on the Web site for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. May is ALS awareness month, and the association will run Kincaid's photo and profile on Saturday as part of its campaign to foster awareness of ALS. The association is a world leader in providing health-care services for people with ALS and other neuromuscular diseases.

ALS is a progressive neuromuscular disease that eventually robs people of their ability to move, swallow, talk and breathe. There is no cure. The average life expectancy for ALS patients is three to five years after diagnosis.

The disease has taken its inevitable toll on Kincaid. He had to leave his job as a supervisor at Phillips-Van Heusen, a company that had offered him a great deal of support during his wife's illness and the beginning of his own. After his diagnosis, the company raised more than $39,000 for ALS research.

He now wears braces on both legs, both arms and his neck. He can walk and drive for short distances, but everyday tasks, including dressing himself, are becoming more difficult. He got a wheelchair last week, but he won't be able to take advantage of it until he can find a van to haul it in.

Although the disease has slowed his body, it has not slowed his efforts to help others. After his diagnosis, he went to a support-group meeting in Greensboro and came home with the desire to start a similar group in Jonesville.

People with ALS can draw on many resources, he said. "A lot of people don't know where to go to get them." Although he hasn't gotten everyone together yet for an official meeting, Kincaid has found several people in his area who have ALS. He visits them regularly.

"It really seems to have helped them," he said. "Hopefully, I have made some kind of impact on their life." ALS affects people in different ways, he said.

"Some people can accept it, and some can't. It's like cancer. A lot of people get so depressed and really down when somebody sits and tells them that they have a terminal illness."

Everyone faces challenges in life, he said.

"I've just chosen not to allow this disease to whip me mentally and to use it to help others. You can always make something good out of anything negative if you want to."

■ Janice Gaston can be reached at 727-7364 or at jgaston@wsjournal.com.

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