Chris Has ALS
Chris Douglas was 40 when he was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, named for the New York Yankees “Iron Horse”, who was diagnosed at 36. The irony is not lost on Chris who coached his son Isaiah’s team and often played ball with all 3 of his son’s. In the video, “Chris Talks About His Diagnosis in 2015” below, filmed right after his diagnosis, Chris talks about his lifelong love of sports.
ALS is a very rare neurodegenerative disease with no cure or effective therapies. On average 30,000 people in the US have the disease and one of those people die every 90 seconds. The disease attacks the brain cells that are needed to “tell” your muscles to move. As muscles are rendered lifeless, they atrophy and put stress on the skeletal system, which can be painful. On average the disease will take 2-5 years to make its victim unable to move, speak, communicate with only their eyes, eat or drink without sole reliance on a feeding tube, and breath without a respirator.
In August of 2015, the second Ice Bucket Challenge advanced the public’s knowledge and understanding of ALS. It was a month before Chris’s diagnosis. There are tremendous resources across the web to get information about the disease and watch personal videos about its impact on the quality and quantity of its victims lives. There are also other online resources to meet Chris and his family.
Check them out here:
Chris Talks About His Diagnosis in 2015
Chris’s Journal on Caring Bridge
Peggy Douglas Facebook Page
Chris and his wife of 23 years, Peggy, have been valiantly fighting to keep Chris alive for the past five years. On June 4th he turns 45 – Happy Birthday Chris!! They have 4 children; Isaiah (now 20), Micah (now 17), Luke (now 14), and Ellianna (now 11), who have spent almost all of their formative years helping to take care of their Dad. Isaiah did do a freshman year at Winona State University, studying Composite Materials Engineering, but came home to help his parents manage Chris’s disease and lower the monthly expenses. For now, he is working as a surveyor. Each of the kids are smart like their father, have incredible empathy for others, love the Lord and are committed to God, and are creative using their own unique gifts.
Chris is an Electrical Engineer and has worked for the Sierra Nevada Corp. for almost 16 years working on navigation and landing systems for commercial and military aircraft. Sierra Nevada Corporation was incredibly loyal to Chris and made the assistive technology he needed to continue his work possible. Like Stephen Hawking, who died from ALS in March of 2018, Chris’s intelligence made him able to fully embrace all of the technologies available to him, so he could contribute to the company and his family. In April of 2020, at the height of the Corona Virus Pandemic, Chris left Sierra Nevada and by May he needed a respirator.
Please give to the Chris Has ALS fund to help with the costs associated with Chris’s disease progression, such as home health care aides, housekeeping help, a meal delivery plan, medical copays and ambulance visits to his doctors, and keeping his children active and engaged in sports and summer programs that provide a normalcy that helps them cope. This $45,000 campaign will help them for a year. With prayer and generosity from you and the people you share this with, we can go beyond the basics and build on the kids college funds, which Chris will not have time to finish.
Please share a link to this page with your Linked In connections, Facebook Friends, Twitter, Instagram, Tumbler, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and other social media platforms, email contacts, church families, friends, and your family members so that we can do what he no longer can, after the words, Chris Has ALS were spoken.
Chris Douglas was 40 when he was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, named for the New York Yankees “Iron Horse”, who was diagnosed at 36. The irony is not lost on Chris who coached his son Isaiah’s team and often played ball with all 3 of his son’s. In the video, “Chris Talks About His Diagnosis in 2015” below, filmed right after his diagnosis, Chris talks about his lifelong love of sports.
ALS is a very rare neurodegenerative disease with no cure or effective therapies. On average 30,000 people in the US have the disease and one of those people die every 90 seconds. The disease attacks the brain cells that are needed to “tell” your muscles to move. As muscles are rendered lifeless, they atrophy and put stress on the skeletal system, which can be painful. On average the disease will take 2-5 years to make its victim unable to move, speak, communicate with only their eyes, eat or drink without sole reliance on a feeding tube, and breath without a respirator.
In August of 2015, the second Ice Bucket Challenge advanced the public’s knowledge and understanding of ALS. It was a month before Chris’s diagnosis. There are tremendous resources across the web to get information about the disease and watch personal videos about its impact on the quality and quantity of its victims lives. There are also other online resources to meet Chris and his family.
Check them out here:
Chris Talks About His Diagnosis in 2015
Chris’s Journal on Caring Bridge
Peggy Douglas Facebook Page
Chris and his wife of 23 years, Peggy, have been valiantly fighting to keep Chris alive for the past five years. On June 4th he turns 45 – Happy Birthday Chris!! They have 4 children; Isaiah (now 20), Micah (now 17), Luke (now 14), and Ellianna (now 11), who have spent almost all of their formative years helping to take care of their Dad. Isaiah did do a freshman year at Winona State University, studying Composite Materials Engineering, but came home to help his parents manage Chris’s disease and lower the monthly expenses. For now, he is working as a surveyor. Each of the kids are smart like their father, have incredible empathy for others, love the Lord and are committed to God, and are creative using their own unique gifts.
Chris is an Electrical Engineer and has worked for the Sierra Nevada Corp. for almost 16 years working on navigation and landing systems for commercial and military aircraft. Sierra Nevada Corporation was incredibly loyal to Chris and made the assistive technology he needed to continue his work possible. Like Stephen Hawking, who died from ALS in March of 2018, Chris’s intelligence made him able to fully embrace all of the technologies available to him, so he could contribute to the company and his family. In April of 2020, at the height of the Corona Virus Pandemic, Chris left Sierra Nevada and by May he needed a respirator.
Please give to the Chris Has ALS fund to help with the costs associated with Chris’s disease progression, such as home health care aides, housekeeping help, a meal delivery plan, medical copays and ambulance visits to his doctors, and keeping his children active and engaged in sports and summer programs that provide a normalcy that helps them cope. This $45,000 campaign will help them for a year. With prayer and generosity from you and the people you share this with, we can go beyond the basics and build on the kids college funds, which Chris will not have time to finish.
Please share a link to this page with your Linked In connections, Facebook Friends, Twitter, Instagram, Tumbler, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and other social media platforms, email contacts, church families, friends, and your family members so that we can do what he no longer can, after the words, Chris Has ALS were spoken.
Organizer and beneficiary
Jayme Norrie
Organizer
Herriman, UT
Peggy Douglas
Beneficiary