"ALS " in our family

Recent news of the Ice Bucket Challenge prompted me to blog about this topic.

ALS is rarely diagnosed here in our country and I'm glad that there is an awareness of this disease as it could be in the genes of our loved ones.

We lost our beloved "sanse" to this debilitating disease.

Miss Rosario Magpoc with my son Rico

Initially she had difficulty of raising her arm and buttoning her clothes.
My husband brought her to UST hospital where she was eventually diagnosed to have such.

"sanse, ditse, ate & my father-in-law"

From thereon I started reading books about ALS to learn more about the disease  only to realize there's no treatment.
Reading the blogs of patients diagnosed with ALS is  heartbreaking  as you can virtually watch hopelessly the disease deteriorating rapidly... like watching " the fault in our stars".

ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)  or Lou Gehrig's Disease is a nerve disorder making the motor nerves die. When they die the muscles lose control leading to muscle tone loss.

my husband ricky with "sanse"

 That  makes the body weak  while the sensory function is intact. It is progressive to the point that one has difficulty in walking which can progress to difficulty in swallowing and catastrophically difficulty of breathing.
There is a known hereditary factor in familial ALS. If there is no family history present... in around 90% of cases-cause is unknown.

sanse with her apo's

Life span once diagnosed can be from two to four years. Im thankful that sanse reached 4 years. But it was despairing to see her go and can't do anything about it. During her final days we just gave her parenteral nutrition as she cant swallow anymore.

january 2013

Raising awareness to this disease would I hope be a step towards helping those who are afflicted and support their family and in searching its cure.

I'm proud to see my son RJ and daughter Nica doing the "Ice Bucket Challenge".....

...in honor of our late "Sanse".