Family fights back against Lou Gehrig Disease

Submitted by
Corey (nee Ricci) Dyck

This is a story about a woman and a disease. Have you ever heard of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis? How about ALS or more commonly known as Lou Gehrig Disease? A better question is; have you ever known anyone who has or had ALS? If you say yes to any of these questions then you already know what a devastating fatal disease it really is.
This is a story about a mother, a wife, a teacher, a beautiful woman who died of ALS. The reason for the story is not only to raise money to fight this disease, but to tell you of a family who has decided to fight back.
The lady that died from ALS was our mother, her name was Helen Ricci and she lived in Rainy River, Ontario her entire life except for when she went away to college. Helen was all the things previously described and much more. She loved life, her family, and her faith. Growing up, my mom was the principal of St. Michael’s catholic school in Rainy, she took her job seriously and always made sure her students were taken care of. Mom and dad (Len) always loved living in Rainy River, mom was the school teacher and dad ran the local newspaper, the Rainy River Record. If you stroll through the pages of the book written about Rainy River my dad can be seen in many of the pictures, as he belonged to many community clubs back in the day. Mom was also busy being a member of many clubs as well. I can remember not so long ago when mom started suspecting that something was amiss. Being an active women most of her life it was startling when symptoms started appearing.
Now, for all who knew her, my mother was not exactly petite, so when she began having problems walking many people including a doctor or two thought perhaps her weight was inhibiting her walking ability. Not so. Mom always was able to walk, it was a dramatic indication that something was wrong when she couldn’t even walk a block. Only when she began having serious breathing problems when walking did she finally get some attention from her doctors.
One of the problems with having ALS is getting a diagnosis. Mom endured many tests which were painful and frustrating for her. It is only from a process of elimination did the diagnosis finally come in as ALS. Devastation! Life as she knew it, and as we knew it would never be the same. And it wasn’t. ALS is the most common form of motor neuron disease. It is a progressive and ultimately fatal neuromuscular disease. ALS causes nerve cells to degenerate, voluntary muscles will weaken and will become immobile. It leaves senses unimpaired and the intellect is often unaffected. In laymen’s terms it means while your muscles are dying your mind is fully aware and crying to be rescued. Some people will lose the ability to walk first, maybe arm mobility, others it affects muscles in the torso first, they are left for the most part paralyzed, some not even being able to communicate, imagine how awful that must be. For many, death comes because the muscles in the chest do not work anymore and the person cannot breath, they literally drown in their own fluids because the lungs cannot expunge it. In a way we were lucky (what a weird way of thinking of it) because mom was able to talk and even eat until the very end. Helen’s family went to great lengths to keep her home and look after her until the end.
The end came on May 5, 2003. Mom died quietly and peacefully talking of angels and love. Now, for the reason for the story...Helen’s family has decided to take part in a Walk for ALS that will take place in Winnipeg on May 27, 2006. Our sister, Karen, first took part in this walk last year on mom’s behalf. This year we decided that it was something tangible we all could do to fight back. Don and Lou, Corey and Darryl, Len and Millie, Karen, Chris and many of our children will be taking part in this walk. We might ask you to help fight by making a pledge. It is your choice. You can also pledge on the internet by logging onto:
http://www.als.ca/events/mysite.aspx?fit=428.
There are also websites in Don and Lou’s name and Karen Ricci Craig that you can access by going directly to www.als.ca/events and follow the links.
This is a story about a woman who’s family fought back. ALS is a disease but it did not succeed in defining Helen Ricci’s life, it was the cause of her death.