'The thanks is in my heart'

Teacher with Lou Gehrig's disease still leads by example
FRIEND: 'You can see when she's sad, and when she's happy her eyes twinkle. ... She's still teaching: I just learned at age 50 that you can look at somebody's eyes and tell what they are saying.'
By Allie Barlow

Contributing Writer

Friday, November 10, 2006

MIDDLETOWN — Eyes wide open, her pupils dart across the computer screen on her lap.

The high-tech medical appliance records the letters she chooses with eye movement to eventually form words.

"W-A-I-T ..." her eyes help her say.

It is a slow, laborious process as she chooses each letter, patiently backtracking to correct errors.

For Lois "Tot" Schultz, former educator, community leader, and mother of four adult daughters, communication was once the dominating force in her life. Now it is a process that calls for determination and persistence, two strengths Schultz has come to know well in her struggle against Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Along with her family and supporters, Team Totally Optimistic Thinking, she refuses to stop trying.

Three years ago Schultz, a teacher at Lakota for 30 years and a former Miami University professor, was teaching at a Hamilton school when she began to have strange sensations in her tongue. She felt short of breath and started slurring her words.

After months of visits to the doctor, testing and ruling out many diseases, she was diagnosed with Bulbar Palsy (a pulsing of nerves in her throat), brought on by ALS.

"I'll never forget that day," said Sam Ashworth, Schultz's husband of 10 years. "We walked out (of the doctor's office) into the hall and just ... silence."

Ashworth defines ALS as a problem with the myelin sheath, which covers muscles, through which nerve impulses run. Toxins or another unknown cause creates holes in this lining, inhibiting the nerve pulses from reaching their destination and ultimately resulting in a rapid loss of muscle control.

Although it usually begins by paralyzing the victim's lower half, Schultz's form began in her throat, inhibiting her ability to speak, eat and swallow.

The disease remains mysterious to the medical profession. Schultz was given three to five years to live.

Schultz had spent her life helping children learn to think outside the box, challenge themselves to realize their own self-worth.

"Everyone has a different part to give," said Deb Peters, Schultz's former co-worker and close friend. "I'm the only one, for example, who notices that her bracelet is all the way down her arm, digging into her skin."

Peters moved Schultz's bracelet and patted her friend's cheek.

An art and writing teacher at Liberty Junior School, Peters has channeled her creative talents to raise funds for Schultz.

"My creativity is a gift and I am inspired by Lois: the perfect combination," said Peters, whose first endeavor was the "Lady Star Project," based off of Schultz's saying, well-known among her students: "You are a star right where you are."

Peters made glass ornaments in the shape of a star lady, because "Lois spent her whole life trying to become a lady; to do things right and to be admired."

Peters raised $5,000, which went toward alternative medical treatment at the Progressive Medical Center in Atlanta. When that didn't work, Schultz's family devised an alternative plan.

Her daughter Lesley Hatfield is an exercise physiologist, and another daughter, Shannon LeMintier, is a nutritionist. Together they spent many weeks with Schultz concocting nutritional smoothies to keep up her weight, helping her exercise and assisting with chiropractic, detoxification, meditation and other treatments in Atlanta.

Back home in Middletown, though, Kim Tosheff, a physical therapy student at University of Cincinnati, stepped up to help Schultz medically. After having a food tube put in, undergoing a tracheotomy and living on a full-time ventilator, the source of Schultz's daily support — in addition to Tosheff — has been her husband.

"When Sam married her, they agreed to take care of each other until death, and he's held up his end of the bargain," said Peters.

Students also stepped in.

Schultz needed in-home nursing care, and the Liberty Junior student council responded when Peters proposed a project: It raised $500 for her by making and selling flower pens.

On Oct. 13, Peters presented Schultz with a check of $2,000 raised by the Lakota West Student Government through a penny war.

The response of people in her life — friends, students, parents, teachers and the community — has been, according to Ashworth, the most encouraging part of the past three years. Peters continues today by making greeting cards to raise money to put toward Schultz's new eye-tracking computer.

As her condition worsened, Schultz maintained conversation by writing. She filled 50 notebooks with her thoughts and words, concluding with: "The thanks is in my heart."

How to help

Cards or donations for Lois Schultz can be sent to Deb Peters at 6737 Princeton Road, Middletown,OH 45044 or by calling (513) 779-7263. Flower Pens, lady star ornaments, and greeting cards also are available for purchase
http://www.middletownjournal.com/hp/...111006als.html