Bob's battle against ALS

Hi everyone, my name is Michael Murray and I am writing this message along with my brothers, Nicolas and Daniel Murray, to let you into our lives and share with you the story of our father. Throughout our lives, Bob Murray has been the epitome of a caring and loving father and husband. He has devoted every moment of his life to ensuring the health and well-being of our family. There is no single instance when he was not there to support and help us no matter the situation. This is why we are creating this campaign, to return that love and support to him. Just a year ago, Dad was living a normal life, working hard, self-employed as a landscaper. Day in and day out, tough manual labor, providing for his family as he always made it his number one priority to do. Then, seemingly overnight, he began having a recurring tingling and numbness in his hands and feet. Soon it became difficult for him to walk, tiring and losing his breath doing even the simplest things. He quickly began losing weight and muscle mass, dropping over 60 pounds in just a few months. Our family knew something very serious was happening, but every test was coming back negative. After a long and exhaustive search for answers, in October of 2015 his doctors came to him with a diagnosis of ALS. This was a stunning and devastating diagnosis for him and our family. ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (or Lou Gehrig's disease) is a fatal disease with no treatment options and no cure. In a healthy individual, nerve cells called motor neurons travel from the brain to the spinal cord and then on to our muscles, allowing for voluntary and involuntary movements of limbs and organs. ALS initiates the death of motor neuron cells, cutting off the signals needed for any and all movement. This leads to muscle atrophy, paralysis, and eventually, losing the ability to talk and breathe, all while maintaining normal cognitive function. You are, in a very literal way, trapped within your own body. This is truly an absolutely cruel and nightmarish disease and something we are still struggling to come to terms with. Unfortunately, health insurance does not cover many of the items needed to manage mobility such as a stair-lift, a ramp to the front door, or a wheelchair van. It also does not cover all of the expenses of doctors visits, rental of oxygen and CPAP breathing machines, chest physiotherapy devices to keep the airway and lungs clear of mucus, a nebulizer to deliver medicine to the lungs, and other devices he will need as this disease progresses. While there is no known treatment or cure for ALS, we can not simply stand by and do nothing as this disease runs it's course. We are trying every promising alternative approach, supplement, and potential medicine we can find in the hopes of slowing the progression of this disease. None of these alternatives are covered by any health insurance plan. Our mother, Karen, has been tireless in doing all she can to hold it together and get my father everything he needs. We, as his sons, with Linda Murray, his daughter-in-law, have reached down deep both emotionally and financially to be there for them and help in every way possible. Despite all of this, none of us are in a position to tackle something as serious as this by ourselves and it is simply not enough. It is all of these overwhelming factors that are forcing me to reach out to you to help secure for our parents a way to cover and manage these unsustainable costs. Bob is an extremely proud and humble man who has never asked anything of anyone, but yet has given so much to his family, his church, and to complete strangers which he has donated money and goods to over the years. So proud and humble in fact that we don't even want to mention this campaign to him just yet.  We understand that these are trying times for many people right now so simple prayers and positive thoughts are sincerely welcomed. If you happen to be in the position to donate something, any amount will be so incredibly appreciated by our family and will go directly towards bills that have piled up and the inevitable future costs that we alone will not be able to endure. Please feel free to share this page with family and friends. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you in advance and please hope and pray for Bob as he continues through this uncertain ordeal. Thank you for your time and compassion.

Michael, Nicolas, and Daniel Murray