Helping Jocalyn on her ALS journey

As you may be aware, one of my dear friends, Alex Herron, has been going through a very trying and difficult time.  Almost three years ago, Alex’s wife Jocalyn was diagnosed with ALS.

For those of you that don’t know, ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, it is a neuromuscular disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness leading to eventual death. There are two treatments that can extend a patient’s life, but currently, there is no cure.  If this isn’t bad enough, the devastating financial impact to Alex and the family is quite overwhelming.

Aside from the medical costs not covered by insurance, other costs that must be factored in are for example:

Home modifications such as:
o   Stair Lifts
o   Ramps
o   Zero step shower
o   Bathroom modifications to include railings, etc.
o   Door widening for wheelchair access

 Car modifications such as:
o   Trailer hitch
o   Wheel chair lifts, etc.

Substantial ongoing monthly Caregiver costs – these get progressively higher as the patient worsens and can no longer be alone

With the aforementioned items, we know these expenses are increasing exponentially, so I am sure you can see how any help would be greatly appreciated.

 In talking with Alex recently, he shared his current situation and gave me his blessing to create this fundraiser.  He wrote the words below to share with friends asking how they can help.

“I am in the midst of an awesome career at American Airlines spanning over 26 years and I do earn a good living, but my situation has degraded to the point where I can no longer sustain the ongoing costs to treat my wife’s ALS and also maintain a household for myself and my dependent son. Although I have made wise financial choices and performed extensive financial planning before my wife’s diagnosis, there is no way I could have envisioned and thus planned for the erosion of finances that I now face. I take great pride in my ability to provide for my family, so I’m sure you can imagine that it is very difficult for me to reach for help now. ”

 Please help a friend in time of need.