3 minute read
ALS Public Awareness
I Will Love You Forever
A wife held her husband’s hands and wept softly as the doctor told them the news that her husband had ALS. This doctor added quietly that there was nothing anyone could do, so they needed to get their life in order and do anything they had dreamed of doing ‘someday’ before their ‘someday’ slipped out of reach.
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Her husband, stunned and not sure how to absorb the diagnosis, turned to her and asked, “Will you help me through this? I’m not sure what to do next,” She tightened her grip on his hands and softly said,
And so their last chapter of life together began, each day filled with both blessings and losses that flooded their hearts with joys and sorrows. The day he found he could no longer button his shirts was the day they also welcomed a grandchild into the family. The day he could no longer stand but had friends step in to raise him up in spirits. The day he could no longer raise his fork to his mouth to eat was a day when she began lovingly and romantically feeding him.
They would weep with each loss, while he so longed to be able to wipe her tears. He would cry out, “How can you love me when I am becoming a burden and cannot share this load?” She firmly held his hands and quietly said,
Time stops for no one, and time was their enemy. His losses continued until he was stilled of all movement. She fed him through a feeding tube, and carefully tended his breathing equipment. No longer able to speak words of love freely, their conversations were brief and focused on his needs. Move pillows. Cream on foot. Eye drops. Suction. Bathroom. Feel sick. Hurt.
more work. You look so tired.” She wiped his eyes and took his hand, saying,
The months passed and became years. They were both worn out, bone weary, wondering how much more pain he could take. The reality of life on life support with ALS meant that he would live longer but would face the worst of the worst of ALS. He became increasingly confused and upset over things, sometimes spelling out that his heart was sad. Life had settled into a routine of pain management, care, prayers, and tasks that ate up every minute of every day.
He found it hard to ask, but needed to know, “Will you always love me? How can it be so? I cannot love you like you need to be loved.” She held his hands so gently as to not hurt him more, and whispered over and over again in his ear,
“I will love you forever, I have enough love for two. As long as I live, In my heart you will be.”
And so it was. (Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ALSPatientandCaregivertips)
