ALS Julie's Fight

Our sister, Julie McDonough, is a caring, friendly mother of 4 children; Dylan, Devin, Dallas and Darby.  She is married to her husband Jim for 25 years this past May.  She was always active, physically fit and filled with unending energy.  So in late 2014, when she wasn't able to complete the long walks she and Jim loved to take, almost dropping groceries bringing her son back to college, and her muscles were severely cramping at the oddest times; she knew something didn't seem right.  

Julie was diagnosed with ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (aka Lou Gehrig's Disease) in February 2015 by the University of Chicago after months of testing.  She sought a second opinion and was diagnosed again in February 2016 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.  

For those of you not familiar with the disease, ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.  There is no cure and it is 100% fatal.  There are around 30,000 people living with ALS at one time because most patients are given 2-5 years life expectancy.  

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.  People may lose the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe.  With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed prior to their death.  

Julie's ALS progression has affected her respiratory muscles the most since her diagnosis.  She lost the ability to breathe on her own at night and requires her to use a biPap machine.  She has another machine she uses to help her exercise her lungs throughout the day.  Because of the weakened state in her chest, she is unable to cough on her own and uses a hand pump to help clear her throat.  She becomes winded and short of breath, so her physical activity is limited.  She has to be careful of talking for long periods of time or projecting her voice but, thankfully she hasn't lost the ability to speak.  This is a blessing because anyone that knows Julie knows how much she loves to talk!
 
For those of you who know Julie, you know she is a fighter.  So after months of anxiety and depression from the initial diagnosis, she began to search for answers of ways to try and continue to live as long as possible with ALS.  

She follows an extensive vitamin and supplement protocol that will help preserve as much strength as she has left.  She is in the process of scheduling a Stem Cell procedure in California that promises to help slow progression with a stem cell infusion.   The procedure is costly and not covered by insurance and will have to be paid for in full at the time of occurrence.  She is hoping to have this done sometime early spring.  

We are reaching out to everyone to help support Julie and her family in this fight.  We have set-up a non-for-profit in Julie's name, The Julie McDonough Benefit Fund.  The Stem Cell procedure, doctor bills, medical equipment, insurance copays, medications, travel costs, vitamins and supplements; these are the ways your donation would assist in Julie's Fight.