Steve Larson


View Photo Slideshow

Video

Dec 9 2008 10:59PM
KXMBTV Bismarck

We bring you a story now that may just change the way you look at life; it may make you re-evaluate what's important; it may cause you to change how you're spending your days.

Steve Larson is a 53-year-old man from Carrington, North Dakota and Steve Larson is dying. He was diagnosed with ALS in 2003 and although he knows his days may be few, over the past five years, Steve Larson has learned some valuable lessonson living.

"The first thing I noticed, I had some weakness in my hands," said Steve Larson, an ALS patient. "I used to work out quite a bit and I just noticed that, noticing some weakness and I first just attributed it to getting old."


Steve Larson passed off the weakness he felt as just a sign of old age - but the weakness continued taking over his body.

"It started moving into my arms and I put off going to the doctor," Larson said. "I always had an excuse."


Larson got the news in 2003. He was diagnosed with a condition that affects 2 people per 100,000 in this country: ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Dr. Shiraz Hyder is a neurologist at St. Alexius and says ALS is a tough disease.

"ALS is a neurodegenerative condition meaning it gradually gets worse with time," said Hyder.

And it's a disease that can eventually kill you.

"When the disease has progressed to a point where it's affecting the chest muscles, you're unable to breathe and that results in either some form of a pneumonia or some other condition that the patient succumbs to," Hyder said.

It's been five years. There's no cure and Larson is now bed ridden.

"I don't wake up fearful," Larson said. "You know - whatever happens, happens. Part of the acceptance thing is whatever happens you got to play with the hand you're dealt."

He spends much of his days now surfing the web - and says he's learned life is not about getting what you want, but wanting what you've got.

"I don't have a lot," Larson said. "I mean, I have my friends, my family, my dog, my kids, that's all really important to me so I gotta make the most out of it."


KX News will be bringing you periodic updates on Steve Larson and his condition over the next couple months. Next time, we'll share a bit about Larson's childhood - and of course, more on what he's learned about life since being diagnosed with ALS. watch the video |

http://www.kxmb.com/News/307262.asp