I’ve recently spoken to a few people with ALS who all said “I’m dying” at some point during our conversation. I understood. They are recently diagnosed, trying to make sense of a sudden, terrible loss of control over their lives, their futures. To say “I’m dying” can be a way to acknowledge what is happening, while still taking back some of the power. “Now I know what’s going to kill me,” one man said.

Or it could just be a way to begin to cope with what we’ve all been told is the inevitable conclusion of having this disease.

But I’ve found it doesn’t work for me. I once tried looking in the mirror and saying “I’m dying” out loud to my reflection. It just made me want to laugh. I don’t feel like I’m dying. Even though any one of us could look into a mirror and say those words, and they would technically be true, when I said them, they sounded false. Read More>