S.A. Woman Fights Deadly ALS Disease
LAST UPDATE: 10/11/2006 7:00:49 AM
Posted By: Walker Robinson


It is a disease that can hit anyone at anytime. There is no cause and no cure. Twenty-eight-year-old Kimberley McSpadden suffers from it. The disease is ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

“If people get involved, then I might not die,” McSpadden said. She wants more people to get involved in the fight to find a cure for ALS.

Close to 30,000 Americans are living with the debilitating disease. People who suffer from ALS virtually become prisoners in their own bodies. They are barely able to move or speak.

Kimberley has vowed not to give up her fight.

Kimberley was a normal teenage girl, a self-proclaimed tomboy, who always had the perfect hair and makeup. Now, she needs her sister to decipher her sentences.

“She says our family used to be very carefree, and now it's like, we're revolved around her disease,” Kimbeley’s sister, Jennifer McSpadden told News 4 WOAI.

ALS has robbed Kim of her ability to speak and move. The once independent girl is now dependent on others for everything.

“Your muscles everyday, they die a little more and more,” Jennifer McSpadden said of the disease.

Kimberley is basically paralyzed now, but she still does have movement in one of her fingers. Her only outlet is a keyboard, and the internet is the only place her words can keep up with her thoughts.

“It's humbling also because everyday you wake up, and you're thankful for what you do have,” Kimberley's sister, Jennifer McSpadden said.

In spite of the disease, Kimberley keeps a smile on her face, her sense of humor in tact, and she refuses to feel sorry for herself.

“I don't think I'm going to die,” Kimberley said.

Kimberley’s family said doctors had predicted she would not live long following her diagnosis. Kim believes a cure will be found before the disease takes her life. But, most ALS patients live, on average for just three to five years after they are diagnosed with the disease.

“In 2001, they told her she'd be dead in three years,” Jennifer McSpadden said of her sister.

Later this month, the McSpaddens will be participating in the ALS Walk to raise money to fight the disease. The walk is Saturday, October 28th at San Pedro Springs Park. Registration begins at 10 a.m., and the walk begins at 11 a.m. Kim’s team is Kimmy’s Ladybugs.

To register or donate to the ALS walk, visit this website, http://walk.alsa-south-tx.org .
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story...6-9FA109C392C3