Terminal Illness in Middle Adulthood

I grew up living down the street from an absolute awesome person, his name is Mr. Bert Woodard . I was friends with his oldest daughter and always had a lot of respect for him because he was a single father. However, there was something different about my neighbor, he had Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," which is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed. (ALS Association, 2004) While growing up, I saw my neighbor go from a healthy, strong, handsome man to a man that is completely dependent on his 80 year old mother to care for him. Over the years, his life has changed drastically, however, in many ways it seems as if he has become a stronger person. As his physical health deteriorated, it seemed as if his mental health as well as his will to live grew much stronger. Mr. Woodard has done some amazing things through the years and I'm very excited to have the oppurtunity to share his story with you all. While telling Mr. Woodard's story, which I think is very important, I am also going to attempt to relate the life course perspective to his life experiences. I want to show how his roles as a father, son, husband and friend have changed since his disease began.