Today I’m introducing a new Face of ALS to the site. Jenny Smolinski was diagnosed with ALS in 2013 at the age of 35. I met Jenny online last year, and can identify with her in many ways. We are close in age, and we both have young daughters. Our ALS had a similar onset. We’re from the Midwest. We enjoy avoiding our ALS clinics. There’s probably more, but I’ll stop there, and move back to the more relevant data points.

Jenny and I also share a fear and sadness of leaving behind the kids who still need us. Her daughters are five and two. ALS with young kids is terrifying, but it can also be truly heartening. Our little girls don’t care that we’re in wheelchairs. Scarlett even uses mine to impress people. I took her to a new gymnastics place yesterday, and she made sure all the other kids could see her as she hopped up on my lap and we cruised out the door after class. When the ramp folded out of the van, two girls from her class gasped. “Cool!” one of them exclaimed. Scarlett preened.

I hear that’s not *always* the reaction from the older kids. Read More>