I have just very humbly learned the power of writing, specifically in a public forum. While I intended to honor a person with the utmost respect and bring attention to this horrific disease called ALS, I neglected to get my facts straight before writing my last posting, Sad Day. I mistakenly understood that the man I wrote about refused food and water as his personal last stand against ALS. I was terribly wrong with the manner in which this starvation transpired. This was not a voluntary, defiant act. This was a case of how ALS striped away this man’s ability to even swallow water, not to mention food, without choking on it. What was refused was simply the intervention of artificial means for nutritional support…a feeding tube. I believe we can all understand what a personal decision that would be.
There is no doubt that I have increased the pain to this wonderful family with my irresponsible rhetoric. I write this with a pit in my stomach and tears tumbling from my eyes at the harm I may have done. I can only hope to be forgiven as I had the most innocent of intentions. To me, this makes ALS an even more horrific disease than I thought possible. It affects individuals physically but whole communities emotionally, forever. Please accept my most gracious and sincerest apology…Steven
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