ALS strikes Albany family again
 

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Joshua Mack and Terri Thorpe hug shortly after arriving at a Memorial Day barbecue at Twin Oaks Cemetery.


ALS strikes Albany family again

By Cathy IngallsAlbany Democrat-Herald
Joshua Mack of Albany thought life was good.

He liked his welding and fabricating job, he was enjoying his 3-year-old daughter, Brookelyn, and he liked being with his friends.

Then, about a month ago, doctors told him he had developed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease. It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord and eventually leads to death.

The disease runs in the family. Mack’s great aunt Carolyn died at 39; his grandmother, Wanda Boyer, died at 32; and his mother Fawnette Felde died at 41.

“I’m still in shock,” said Mack, 26, while sitting in a chair at a benefit car wash Saturday afternoon at the Stereo Store on Santiam Highway. “I cry a lot, but I have lots of family support and they are there to talk to me or cry with me.”

His family staged the car wash to raise money to pay Mack’s medical bills. He has no health insurance. He is being treated at Providence Hospital and the Oregon Health & Science University, both in Portland.

Realtor Paula Herr of Albany was one of those people who drove into the car wash.

“I saw his picture on the tent here and I just started weeping and I didn’t even know what was wrong with him,” she said as she waited for her van to be cleaned. “When a family comes together like this, it brings so much strength.”

Mack, who graduated in 2000 from South Albany High School, lives with his father, John Mack, and his sister Teresa Lewellen. He said he tires easily, so he had to give up his welding job. Now he works part-time at the Stereo Store.

He cannot use his left arm. Sometimes he needs assistance getting out of bed or a chair or carrying a plate of food. He cannot open bottles.

He takes pills to control muscle spasms and must decide within a month whether to go on medication that could prolong his life.

The medication costs $1,000 a month.

Mack has no idea how long he will live.

“I’m losing my speech and it’s getting harder to breathe,” he said. “I try not to think about it and I try to live life as much as I normally did.”

Anyone wishing to donate to Joshua Mack may do so at any Washington Mutual Bank branch. Those who want to buy an ALS T-shirt, a “Never Give Up” bracelet or an ALS window sticker to support Mack can call his aunt, Terri Thorpe at (541) 974-3382.

Another benefit is at 7:30 p.m. June 11 at Lucky Larry’s Lounge, 1295 Commercial Way S.E. in Albany. Eighteen bachelors will be auctioned off to women who want to go out with them on a dinner date.

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