Daryll Whitlow fighting Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS)

Hello all,

With permission, I have to share terrible news. My drummer and friend Daryll Whitlow, has been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease which is also call Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We are all devastated. ALS is a terminal disease; there is no cure.

ALS is is a neurological disorder that affects motor neurons, the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement and breathing. As motor neurons degenerate and die, they stop sending messages to the muscles, which causes the muscles to weaken, start to twitch (fasciculations), and waste away (atrophy). Eventually, in people with ALS, the brain loses its ability to initiate and control voluntary movements such as walking, talking, chewing and other functions, as well as breathing. ALS is progressive, meaning the symptoms get worse over time; there is no cure. Daryll has slow progressing ALS but seems to be recently progressing much faster.

Some of you may or may not know that Daryll has been living out of his car for over a year. While this has been very troubling to us, he has made it work. However, Daryll is getting progressively worse to the point where he can no longer play his drums, and is having to use machines to assist with breathing. He can barely move his right arm which is now spreading to decreased use of his left arm. It will get much much worse.

My wife Michelle is now assisting Daryll and had a meeting with his treating physician. She was told that it is very critical that Daryll get a stable place to live and should no longer live out of his car. He needs breathing equipment that is large and has to be plugged in and it is just not an environment that he can or should be in ongoing. He will eventually have to be under hospice care, but he is not at that point yet.

At his families request, Michelle has Medical power of attorney and is working with all kinds of agencies to find help for Daryll, but as you can all imagine, the challenge is real and not forgiving and believe it or not, has waiting list.

While we are trying to find assistance for Daryll, we are reaching out to everyone, especially our fellow musicians to contribute what you can so that we can get him into an extended stay facility until we can find a permanent solution.

Also, because Daryll like many other musicians, does not have private medical insurance, so he has Medi-cal. Needless to say, there is so much that they do not provide. This money will also take care of medical expenses that are not covered.

Not to sound cliché, but every single penny will help. There are other ways that you can contribute, so please reach out to me and I can provide you with that information. WE REALLY NEED YOUR HELP.