Living with ALS

Hi, my name is Johnnie and Als took my dad’s life on March 8th, 2002. He started with a small limp in his leg. It gradually started getting worse, his walking started getting shaky. He had to eventually go to a wheel chair and he had to wear a condom catheter. My mom was basically doing everything for my father. She worked full time during the day, then came home and took care of him full time. I regret not being there to help out like I should have but I was going through a very abusive relationship. I went over as much as I could but I regret not as much as I wanted to. It was hard watching my dad go through all of these rough life changes. He died at home in his hospital bed. He did not want to be fed by a tube or he didn’t want to be kept alive my a machine. He was a DNR receipient. When he passed away that late afternoon, he was surrounded by a majority of his family. After he was diagnosed he had lived a little over a year. It was hard for him because he was a very active man. He always worked 2 or 3 jobs to take care of his wife and 5 children. It’s a very sad thing to go through but you just have to keep your head up because God has a plan.