00:00My, like, thing this year is to try to find joy so people can find joy in the midst of the tornado.
00:18So my first symptoms started when we were moving to Texas. I went to, like, squat and I couldn't
00:26get back up. I was like, that's weird. Like, I had to, like, actually, like, push myself off the floor
00:30and use, like, a table to get up my left. But it was kind of, like, flopping. It would work and work
00:37and work and then all of a sudden it was just, like, it's done. I can't get it to move. And it
00:42slowly got worse and worse and worse. May 23rd was my diagnosis day and went in and that's when he
00:50gave me the diagnosis of ALS. I have a friend and he was diagnosed with ALS at, um, I want to say age
00:5829. And I was watching his stories on Instagram and I'm, like, everything, like, to me, I was, like,
01:04added up. I was, like, oh my gosh, I have that. Oh my gosh, I have that. I didn't know much about ALS.
01:09I don't think a lot of people actually really know a lot about ALS. And then, like, once he told me,
01:14he said, there's three medications you can take that can help you live an extra three months.
01:18But it's a two to five year prognosis. I can still move my toes, but I can't move my legs at all.
01:26Like, I can't walk or anything. So they're almost completely paralyzed. I was watching my friend's
01:33posts and just how inspired I was by him. And I also felt like it would give me an outlet to
01:38share my story and also meet people. Since I just moved to a new town, when you eventually are
01:44going paralyzed, you can't do a lot. And so it kind of gave me something to do.
01:49It is a little therapeutic. And it has helped others. Like, other people have reached out to me.
01:54I think that's cool because I remember being in that spot and being, like, is there anyone out
01:58there that's going to be like me? I would say the most frustrating part for me is not being able to do
02:06stuff for my kids. Just even making them dinner is so hard. But like, I pretty much walk my 10 year
02:13old through how to just make family dinner. She's been wanting to do hair. And I felt like it was
02:18time to teach her. I still can use my hands like they can still work, but like they curl. So I'm
02:25starting to lose mobility in my hands. And so I really wanted to teach her before my hands are
02:31completely gone. To know that, like, I'm still teaching her something, even though like I can't
02:37do a 10. It's a great feeling.
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