Neuro Note #3: ALS
For my third neuro note I chose a TedTalk entitled, "ALS: Tragedy into Transformation" by Zoe Lalji. Lalji opens up her talk by listed off things that the three letters A-L-S can affect. Her father was diagnosed with ALS and she discusses the struggles she witnessed him having to experience due to this 2 in 100,000 diagnosis. Before his official diagnosis she talked about how the word ALS was essentially a bad word in their household fearing that simply saying the word could cause her father to be diagnosed with it. Once her father was diagnosed she described herself as being emotionally paralyzed by the news unable to function. Lalji said she came to the conclusion that she had to handle this situation exactly how she had faced all of her other situations in the past. She had to ask her dad. Their talk was a turning point for her. It not only reminded her to enjoy the moments that she had left with him but it also motivated her to take action. Lalji and her family later started a foundation that helps to fund research and treatment options for people diagnosed with ALS.
I chose ALS because since it is such as rare disease there is not much knowledge that is commonly known about it. We have covered the medical prognosis and symptoms of the disease in class so I wanted to explore the other side of the disease, the effect of the diagnosis on the person and their family. She gave a moving speech about how amazing her dad was before his ALS diagnosis and continued by acknowledging that for a second she had lost sight of that. When she looked at him she saw his pain, his appearance, and his inevitable death, referring to him as a "prisoner of his own body." Once she realized and accepted that he was still that same amazing person he had always been is when her outlook changed.
In her talk Lalji said, "life is not defined by moments of weakness, it is defined by the ability to move forward from weakness." Hearing this quote was my biggest take away from this talk because it is so applicable to people with neurological disorders. As a future occupational therapist, it is important to remind them of that. After a life altering diagnosis people might feel as though their life will be monopolized and defined by their diagnosis but that's not necessarily true. No matter how progressive the disease everyone still has a life worth living, a time to make amends, and experience what life has to offer.
References:
Lalji, Z. (2018, November 07). ALS: Tragedy to Transformation| TEDxSugarLand. Retrieved
August 13, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-Wx6p7P5D0
I chose ALS because since it is such as rare disease there is not much knowledge that is commonly known about it. We have covered the medical prognosis and symptoms of the disease in class so I wanted to explore the other side of the disease, the effect of the diagnosis on the person and their family. She gave a moving speech about how amazing her dad was before his ALS diagnosis and continued by acknowledging that for a second she had lost sight of that. When she looked at him she saw his pain, his appearance, and his inevitable death, referring to him as a "prisoner of his own body." Once she realized and accepted that he was still that same amazing person he had always been is when her outlook changed.
In her talk Lalji said, "life is not defined by moments of weakness, it is defined by the ability to move forward from weakness." Hearing this quote was my biggest take away from this talk because it is so applicable to people with neurological disorders. As a future occupational therapist, it is important to remind them of that. After a life altering diagnosis people might feel as though their life will be monopolized and defined by their diagnosis but that's not necessarily true. No matter how progressive the disease everyone still has a life worth living, a time to make amends, and experience what life has to offer.
References:
Lalji, Z. (2018, November 07). ALS: Tragedy to Transformation| TEDxSugarLand. Retrieved
August 13, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-Wx6p7P5D0
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