ALS Awareness Month is in May
But I wanted to feature this special portrait today because ALS Awareness month is every month. This portrait is of Kim Casey Fradd and her beloved brother Steve, whom she lost to ALS a number of years ago. Kim’s husband Colin commissioned this painting from me in 2016. It is painted in acrylics on canvas and is probably about 18″ x 24″
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as motor neurone disease or Lou Gehrig’s disease in the United States, is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and lower motor neurons that normally control voluntary muscle contraction. ALS is the most common form of the motor neuron diseases. ALS often presents in its early stages with gradual muscle stiffness, twitches, weakness, and wasting. Wikipedia
Many of us have read the book, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom or seen the movie of the same name about a series of visits Albom made to his former Brandeis University sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, as Schwartz was dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Although it is supposed to be a rare disease, I keep hearing of people who have it, or of people who know people who have it. It is a heartbreaker.
Please stay healthy today…
P.S. a recent response to this blog stated that: “It is believed that untreated or under treated Lyme disease is the cause of ALS ” May be a clue that could be of great help!
