power wheelchair

Power wheelchairs are expensive, and while Medicare covers the base cost, many beneficial features are an additional out-of-pocket expense for those already facing the high cost of living with ALS in the United States. Nine years ago, we began the process of ordering a power wheelchair for…

I remember those days when it was hard to get out of the house with our newborns. Two weeks after our daughter was born, my husband, Todd, and I celebrated Valentine’s Day with dinner at home. Todd bought jewelry for both Sara and me. Life has patterns and seasons, and…

One evening, I took my daily walk in the Nara Nature Park in Houghton, Michigan. As I made my way around a network of wooden boardwalks, through a marsh, and alongside a riverbank and lakeshore, I listened to a symphony of birds. I saw a few couples walking,…

Lisa Cross thought having amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) meant she would have to give up on acting and the theater. A longtime stage actor, Cross, 66, had worked in just about every aspect of the entertainment industry: she was a dancer and singer; a director, choreographer, and teacher; an…

“I been one poor correspondent, and I been too, too hard to find But it doesn’t mean you ain’t been on my mind.” In retrospect, I fear that much of my life has resembled that stanza from the band America’s second Billboard No. 1…

Eighteen years ago, Todd and I joined our lives in marriage, vowing for better or worse, in sickness and in health, and we went forward together as friends and allies. Jesus taught that joining in marriage is “two becoming one flesh.” Indeed, I felt oneness with Todd. We liked…

I inspected the fish through the curved glass of a refrigerated display case. Wild-caught Lake Superior whitefish and trout — both raw and smoked — lay in metal trays. “I’d like that piece of smoked trout in the middle. Underneath the top one,” I specified. I picked a plump…

No one applauds when the train is on time. That was the metaphor I invoked during the portion of my career spent in system implementation and post go-live support organizations within the pharmacy automation industry. I suggested that ensuring uptime was…

“If anything can go wrong, it will.” — Murphy’s Law That adage could be the ALS anthem. From the onset of mysterious symptoms to the serpentine-like diagnostic process and worst-case outcome, and by watching your body unfailingly obey his maxim, the prophet Murphy is seemingly ever-present. The…