Grateful for all the classmates who keep in touch. Here's the latest from Chris Lotspeich with an intro by his wife Amy, all via Facebook.
"Hi everyone! As this year comes to a close, I wanted to be sure to thank you all so much for your generous contributions of meals and financial support toward them. Chris wrote the note below to give everyone an update on how he's doing. As he says, these meals have provided an invaluable source of ease in an otherwise complicated balancing act. Thank you, and Happy New Year!! p.s. - Picture below is of Chris and his brother Matt who was here from Australia for the holidays. From Chris: I'd like to thank everyone who has joined Team Chris via Food Train. Life is getting more challenging. ALS has affected my hands and arms, gait, balance, speech and swallowing. I have lost ~75 lbs of muscle mass. I have regular fatigue and nap frequently. I drool, which is annoying. I have a feeding tube but I can eat and drink most things that others feed me. The whole thing remains a bit surreal. Yet I am very happy, my positive attitude is almost effortless and that can only help me in my predicament. I am highly fortunate to be progressing very slowly and I remain mostly independent eight years in from my earliest ALS symptoms. Half of the poor souls who get this terrible and capricious affliction don't live two years. My relatively slow progression puts me in the ~10% most favorable cohort of people with ALS (pALS). I have an embarrassment of riches in support from family and friends, foremost from my wonderful wife Amy Dunn. She is very busy with her successful independent consulting practice and holding the household together. I don't know how she does it. She is amazing yet her powers are not unlimited. This burden grows as my ability to pitch in and pull my weight diminishes. I am mindful that 80% of caregivers end up in the hospital before the person they are caring for, and I don't want that to happen to Amy. That is why Food Train is a perfect way to support our family. Amy runs hard all day and is tired come evening. Having a tasty nourishing meal delivered is a great help to the whole family, and especially to Amy who doesn't have to pull dinner together at the end of a long day. Your generosity has a direct beneficial impact on our family. Thank you!!"
