Sergio De Luca juggles array of therapies to slow ALS

10:00 PM PST on Monday, December 25, 2006

By PATRICK O'NEIL
The Press-Enterprise

Place a call to the De Luca residence in the early afternoon, and the woman who answers might tell you that Sergio is in his chamber.

Not a studious chamber with an expansive library and a swank leather chair, but a hyperbaric chamber -- a battlefield, from which he tackles amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

"He's Italian; he's a fighter," said Kelly Hillard De Luca, Sergio's wife. "Everything he does is intense."

There is an upbeat, optimistic attitude that hangs in the air as Sergio De Luca describes his ongoing battle with ALS, beginning with his diagnosis in September 2005, when he said the doctors told him to just go home, get his things in order and prepare to die.

"There's no pain whatsoever; it's just slowly paralyzing," De Luca said. "It takes everything away from me."

A former acoustic-ceiling construction worker who had moved to Corona in 1998 for a bigger house, he initially thought his sore neck and shoulder were work-related injuries.

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David Bauman / The Press-Enterprise
Sergio De Luca, 42, of Corona, who is battling ALS, sits with an autographed jacket and basketball given to him by Lakers star Kobe Bryant.
Now, a year into the progressive degeneration of motor neurons, nerve cells in the brain and spinal column, De Luca's speech is slurred and, at times, difficult to understand. His wife sits patiently by his side ready to jump in and assist with communication as he recounts his ordeal.

"Every week, I notice something else that I can't do," he said. "My mind is fine, but it just kills the nerves going to my extremities."

De Luca said the ALS specialists in Irvine wanted him to participate in clinical trials; he initially agreed, but decided against it in the end.

"It was kind of against what I believed in," he said.

De Luca has turned to natural alternatives, taking a vitamin regimen of 45 pills each day, eating organic vegetables and using organic household products. He undergoes acupuncture and chiropractic therapy, lies in his personal hyperbaric chamber daily to increase the oxygen concentration in his body tissues and travels to Mexico once a month to receive stem-cell therapy.

"We're just trying to slow it down," Kelly De Luca said.

All of the tools he's using to fight the disease are considered alternative medications and therefore not covered by health insurance.

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David Bauman / The Press-Enterprise
Sergio De Luca relies on alternative medications that include a vitamin regimen of 45 pills daily.
He enjoys much-needed support from his friends and family. His supporters gathered at a childhood friend's home in Brea, Sergio De Luca's hometown, to hold a fundraiser. They raised more than $20,000 to help him purchase his own hyperbaric chamber.

"I got so much love and support," De Luca said. "It wouldn't be fair to them if I gave up."

The atmosphere in the family's home belies the serious nature of the situation, the daily struggle with a degenerative nerve condition that usually leads to death within three to six years of diagnosis. Though both De Lucas acknowledge that there are moments of frustration, they are quick to point out that "there aren't many."

The cause of ALS, also called Lou Gehrig's disease -- for the 1930s-era New York Yankees great whose career and life was ended by it -- is unknown, and there is no known cure. Riluzole, the only medication prescribed for ALS, offers only to prolong survival by a small handful of months. De Luca is not taking Riluzole.

With what's known about ALS providing a grim outlook, De Luca and his family look to keep spirits high. One of his sisters, Lucy Rushing, organized an opportunity for her brother to meet his favorite athlete, Kobe Bryant, through The Dream Foundation, an adult version of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, at a Lakers game in early December.

"They asked what my first wish was, and I said to meet Kobe," he said. "When they asked what my second wish was, I said I didn't have any."

De Luca, a little awe-struck, said it was weird and overwhelming, because he wasn't expecting Bryant to be so personable.

"He acted like he had nowhere else to go. He was so cool," he said of Bryant.

De Luca still gets out of the house. In the fall, he coached the Corona AYSO Region 37 U Know 16-and-under girls team from a wheelchair with the help of assistant coaches Bob Julian and Mario Mijangos.

He allows a wry grin to show through as he recalls the experience, talking about getting ejected during one of the team's soccer matches. De Luca doesn't mind that the referees gave him no sympathy; in fact, he prefers it that way.

Friends on the team joke with him, tease him and goof around with him.

"If one of my buddies was in this position, I'd be goofing around with them too," he said. "It's just the way I am."

De Luca's team embraced his battle with ALS, finding inspiration in his determination. He spoke with the girls about what he was going through, told them never to give up, and the team ended up winning 14 games in a row on the way to becoming the league champion.

After the final match, the girls came off the field and surrounded his wheelchair. With tears in their eyes, they said they had won it for De Luca.

Reach Patrick O'Neil at 951-893-2101 or poneil@PE.com

Have an idea for a Townsfolk? Contact Assistant Metro Editor Cindy Rhodes at (951) 893-2115 or crhodes@PE.com

townsfolk

Sergio De Luca

He said doctors told him to make his peace and prepare to die; he chose to fight.

AGE: 42

RESIDENCE: Corona

Family: Wife Kelly Hillard De Luca; children, Alyssa, 15, and Frankie, 13; and four sisters, Lucy, Sonia, Norma and Tina

Diagnosed with ALS: September 2005

Alternative treatment: Stem-cell therapy, acupuncture, vitamins, hyperbaric chamber and chiropractic therapy
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