ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that currently has no cure. ALS is a disease that typically involves a gradual onset, with initial symptoms that can be quite varied in different people. One person may struggle with lifting a coffee cup or grasping a pen, while others may begin slurring or losing their speech - ALS affects everyone differently. Regardless, ALS is a disease that always takes - takes someone's ability to help themselves, takes someone's ability to express themselves, and ultimately takes someone from the ones who love them most.Mom was taken from us by this disease too soon. She was a nurse of over 30 years, always taking care of others, to end up being taken care of herself. Though we ultimately lost Mom to ALS, we gained a purpose to bring awareness and support to others who may have or had the same experience with their loved one. Whether it's Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, or another loved one affected by this disease that always takes, always remember - but they still can love.For more ALS information and resources, visit als.org. A large portion of the proceeds from this book will benefit the ALS Association of Georgia Chapter's 'Walk to Defeat ALS' in honor of Mom, Marina Pascarelli.

"Grandma said she's sick, but she looks fine to me. She has a disease called ALS that makes it hard for her muscles to work. My whole family is learning new ways to help her, but I miss how things used to be." Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a very challenging disease that affects all types of people: parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends. Of course, it also has an enormous impact on the children who love those who've been diagnosed with ALS. Children bring kisses, hugs, caregiving, and joy to those living with ALS, but at the same time, those children may be experiencing confusion, fear, and worry as they watch the person they love face a scary disease. And Love Speaks helps to navigate those difficult feelings and conversations, to help children understand that their loved one with ALS is the same person inside, and to maximize quality time together ensuring every moment counts.

"Grandma said she's sick, but she looks fine to me. She has a disease called ALS that makes it hard for her muscles to work. My whole family is learning new ways to help her, but I miss how things used to be." Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a very challenging disease that affects all types of people: parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends. Of course, it also has an enormous impact on the children who love those who've been diagnosed with ALS. Children bring kisses, hugs, caregiving, and joy to those living with ALS, but at the same time, those children may be experiencing confusion, fear, and worry as they watch the person they love face a scary disease. And Love Speaks helps to navigate those difficult feelings and conversations, to help children understand that their loved one with ALS is the same person inside, and to maximize quality time together ensuring every moment counts.

1 The Bermuda Triangle 2 The Little Girl Too Good to Be True 3 Stress and Emotional Competence 4 Buried Alive 5 Never Good Enough 6 You Are Part of This Too, Mom 7 Stress, Hormones, Repression and Cancer 8 Something Good Comes Out of This Is There a "Cancer Personality"? 10 The 55 Per Cent Solution 11 It's All in Her Head 12 I Shall Die First from the Top 13 Self or Non-Self: The Immune System Confused 14 A Fine Balance: The Biology of Relationships 15 The Biology of Loss 16 The Dance of Generations 17 The Biology of Belief 18 The Power of Negative Thinking 19 The Seven A's of Healing Notes Resources Acknowledgments Index

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER From renowned mental health expert and speaker Dr. Gabor Maté, this acclaimed, bestselling guide provides insight into the mind-body link between illness and health, and the critical role that stress and our emotional makeup play in an array of common diseases. In this accessible and groundbreaking book—filled with the moving stories of real people—medical doctor and bestselling author Gabor Maté shows that emotion and psychological stress play a powerful role in the onset of chronic illness, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and many others. An international bestseller translated into over thirty languages, When the Body Says No promotes learning and healing, providing transformative insights into how illlness can be the body's way of saying no to what the mind cannot or will not acknowledge. With great compassion and erudition, Dr. Maté demystifies medical science and empowers us all to be our own health advocates.

In this “gripping story of resistance and the triumph of human will” (Senator Elizabeth Warren), activist and subject of the new documentary Not Going Quietly Ady Barkan explores his life with ALS and how his diagnosis gave him a profound new understanding of his commitment to social justice for all. Ady Barkan loved taking afternoon runs on the California coast and holding his newborn son, Carl. But one day, he noticed a troubling weakness in his hand. At first, he brushed it off as carpal tunnel syndrome, but after a week of neurological exams and two MRIs, he learned the cause of the problem: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. At age thirty-two, Ady was given just three to four years to live. Yet despite the devastating diagnosis, he refused to let his remaining days go to waste. Eyes to the Wind is a rousing memoir featuring intertwining storylines about determination, perseverance, and how to live a life filled with purpose and intention. The first traces Ady’s battle with ALS: how he turned the initial shock and panic from his diagnosis into a renewed commitment to social justice—not despite his disability but because of it. The second, told in flashbacks, illustrates Ady’s journey from a goofy political nerd to a prominent figure in the enduring fight for equity and justice whose “selfless activism fighting to make health care a right should be an inspiration to us all” (Senator Bernie Sanders). From one of today’s most vocal advocates for social justice, Eyes to the Wind’s “primary question is existential: how to live when you are dying? Barkan’s answer is to share, open up, act, and capital-R Resist, and his memoir, clearly and candidly written, establishes a legacy” (Booklist).

Kevin and Jodi O'Donnell, were a young New Jersey couple busy raising a toddler and making plans for their future when they received life-altering news in 1995 that changed everything as they knew it. Kevin was only 30 years old when he was told that his health problems were the result of a rare, terminal disease called ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), or Lou Gehrig's disease. Kevin and Jodi had not heard of ALS until then and had no idea how those three letters would challenge everything they thought to be certain. After more than 20 years of working with ALS families, Jodi realized that more information and better resources could be available to help families who are coming to grips with the challenges of the disease and the caregiving responsibilities that are involved. In the Introduction to "Someone I Love Has ALS: A Family Caregiver's Guide," Jodi recounts the journey she took as a caregiver, advocate and writer and embraces and shares the lessons learned throughout the pages of this wonderful guide, "This guide was created by a variety of caregivers and professionals who have years of experience with various aspects of ALS. It was written by volunteers and experts who care about ALS and your journey. It is the resource that I wish we had received along with the shocking diagnosis." Although Kevin died of ALS in 2001 at the age 35, the disease never won the battle. ALS only strengthened Kevin and Jodi's love for God and each other and it created an even bigger purpose and plan: the creation of Hope Loves Company(r), the only non-profit whose mission is to support the children and grandchildren caregivers of PALS (people with ALS).

White Girls, Hilton Als’s first book since The Women fourteen years ago, finds one of The New Yorker's boldest cultural critics deftly weaving together his brilliant analyses of literature, art, and music with fearless insights on race, gender, and history. The result is an extraordinary, complex portrait of “white girls,” as Als dubs them—an expansive but precise category that encompasses figures as diverse as Truman Capote and Louise Brooks, Malcolm X and Flannery O’Connor. In pieces that hairpin between critique and meditation, fiction and nonfiction, high culture and low, the theoretical and the deeply personal, Als presents a stunning portrait of a writer by way of his subjects, and an invaluable guide to the culture of our time.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER What would you do with one last year? Susan Spencer-Wendel was determined to laugh instead of cry. In June 2011, Susan Spencer-Wendel learned she had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) - Lou Gehrig's disease - an irreversible condition that systematically destroys the nerves that power the muscles. She was 44-years-old, with three young children, and she had only one year of health remaining. She decided to live that year with joy. She left her job as a journalist and spent time with her family. She built a meeting place for friends in her backyard. And she took seven trips with the seven most important people in her life. As her health declined, Susan journeyed to the Yukon, Hungary, the Bahamas, and Cyprus. She went to the beach with her sons and to Kleinfeld's bridal shop in New York City with her teenage daughter, Marina, for a glimpse of the wedding she would never attend. She also wrote this book. No longer able to walk or even lift her arms, she tapped it out letter by letter on her iPhone using only her right thumb, the last finger still working. And yet Until I Say Good-Bye is not angry or bitter. It is sad in parts - how could it not be? - but it is filled with Susan's optimism, joie de vivre and sens of humour. It is a book that, like Susan, will make everyone smile. From a hilarious family Christmas disaster to the decrepit monastery in eastern Cyprus where she rediscovered her heritage, Until I Say Good-Bye is Susan Spencer-Wendel's unforgettable gift to her loved ones and to us: a record of their final experiences together and a reminder that every day is better when it is lived with joy.