Effects of ALS escalate for Andy Guest
by DAVID WENNER, Of The Patiot-News
Sunday December 21, 2008, 1:00 PM

SEAN SIMMERS, The Patriot-News
Andy Guest supervises as his companion, Pam Thomas helps Andy's son Jamie, organize his bedroom. Jamie moved the contents of his bedroom down to the living room because Andy is unable to go up the steps.
After seven years with ALS, the most nagging thing is the lung congestion.

Andy Guest endures it constantly; the muscles he used to breathe are so weak he can't cough on his own. It requires Pam Thomas, his companion, to set a pillow on his stomach, and shove with both arms, repeatedly.


At times, Guest signals for it every ten minutes. It's one more consequence of ALS, also called Lou Gehrig's disease.

Guest, 43, felt the first hints in 2000 -- an odd burning in the calves, a slight clumsiness in one foot. But within a year he was diagnosed with ALS, a fatal, incurable disease that destroys the brain's ability to communicate with the muscles.

Over time, he needed leg braces, then a wheelchair, then help getting dressed, then, since early 2005, help with just about everything.

Andy Guest has shared his story over the years with Patriot-News reporter David Wenner, who writes of his most recent conversations with Guest in The Sunday Patriot-News.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/ind...ng_conges.html