re: Gleason had a diaphragm pacer implanted today

ALS has its ups and downs depending on how you look at it. Its much faster than multiple sclerosis and guillian-barre so you don't spend 20 years of crappy life. The flip side is it occurs so fast (5-10 years) that most people don't have time to figure themselves out or whatever they and their families need to do. With all three of the diseases, mostly ALS and MS because of the descending route (if I remember correctly), once the diagphram is affected and respiratory function is disabled the person is unable to live on without support.