The long goodbye
 

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Steve Meersman and his son Alex watch ‘The Daily Show’ and share some laughs at home Dec. 12 during their nightly routine of going to bed.

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Hospice chaplain Maria Cox McLain comforts Steve during a moment of difficult breathing. The last four days of Steve’s life were spent sleeping or trying to breathe.


The long goodbye
Family faces nightmare of ALS
By JASON KOSENA
JasonKosena@coloradoan.com


Steve Meersman's long goodbye started with a benign fall. At 38, he was taking the garbage out when he tripped over his own legs.

Within a few weeks, he had lost movement in his left hand.

Two years later, he was dead.

"This is your worst nightmare. With your mind sharp, having total sensation, but complete paralysis," Steve wrote in a blog he kept. "Stephen King couldn't come up with a worse scenario. ... Then you find out that there is no treatment, no way to reverse it and no one is ever cured."

A retired Air Force surgeon, Steve was two years into a private practice in New Hampshire when he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

A short time later, Steve, who attended Rocky Mountain High School and Colorado State University, was forced to abandon his dream of a career in surgery to move back to Fort Collins to be near family and friends.

As a doctor, he knew his life would be cut short by ALS, a fatal neurodegenerative disease that attacks voluntary muscle functions throughout the brain and spinal cord.

Steve's battle with ALS ended April 1 at Hospice of Larimer County. His memorial service was Friday in Fort Collins.

For the last seven months of Steve's life, Coloradoan photojournalist Michael Seamans captured him as his health declined and his family coped with the inevitable loss of the man they loved.

As the family provided Steve's primary care, Michael recorded their struggle, spending days at a time looking through the lens, scribing their moments into history.

At times, life dictated that Michael put aside the camera and serve as a caregiver to Steve, a man he grew to respect and love.

Steve invited Michael to experience his family's long goodbye and show others the devastating effects of ALS, a disease that leaves the individual and families with no hope of recovery.

"I think that it's the worst disease around," Steve's wife, Kathi, said. "It's worse than any cancer because there is no cure. He was very frustrated with that. There is no hope once you get this disease."


http://www.coloradoan.com:80/apps/pb...WS01/704150341

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Comments by: anon Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:23 am
This story has the most impact of anything I can remember the Coloradoan producing. There is a subtle, beautiful power in Seaman's photos.


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Comments by: ledoyle Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:16 am
Thank you for your story on Steve Meersman's family and their struggle with ALS. My mother died here in Fort Collins in 2002 from ALS. If people want to learn more about ALS, have a family member or friend with ALS, or make a donation the ALS Association of Colorado website is http://www.alsaco.org/. They were a tremendous help to us. They lend equipment, provide education, sponsor support groups, and help to fund research on this awful disease. Thanks


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Comments by: Go16 Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:27 am
May god bless the Steve Meersman family.
On a day where I feel my life and family is not doing well. I now feel blessed as we have our health.


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Comments by: RPJ Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:17 am
I cannot fathom the pain this disease has caused.
I once had a 20 day stay in the hospital and that is nothing compared to this man.
Steve, I never met you and I am sure that is my loss.
The Steve Meersman family is in my thoughts and prayers.


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