Well, damn it. Here I was enjoying life, and in July of 2021, at the age of 59, a bomb was dropped into my life. I was diagnosed with arguably one of the worst health news one could receive. ALS (aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease). They don’t know what causes it, and there is no cure. I simply cannot describe what the following month or two was like emotionally. No anger, no denial, just utter grief and sadness at the reality of my life being taken away much sooner than anticipated. Subsequent follow-up visits with neurologists have indicated that it might possibly be a rare case of “PLS”, a slower progressing Motor Neuron Disease (MND), but unfortunately it takes four years of monitoring to determine a case of PLS.
As our house was not wheelchair friendly, the writing was on the wall, we needed to sell our beloved home that we had worked hard on for 18 years, and it also meant shutting down my sign business of 28 years. We did find a nice condo with wheelchair access, but the task of the move and closing the business was utterly exhausting. At the time, it perhaps felt a little premature to make such huge changes only months after the diagnosis, but the timing turned out to be perfect, for I physically could not undertake such a herculean task now. In the first eight months after diagnosis, I was unaware that fatigue is part of a MND, and I really do notice now that I am not the “Energizer Bunny” that I used to be. Presently (April 2023), I am still able to get out with my camera, but my balance and walking is becoming more impaired as time goes by, and I can no longer negotiate some uneven terrain. I used to have the balance, coordination and agility of a cat, and losing that is awful. I was also forced to sell my kayak, so my world is slowly getting a little smaller. I am so glad that I went to Cuba, India and Morocco in the last ten years, because when I look back at how I pounded the streets all day like a maniac on those trips, I simply could not do that now either. The other insidious thing about this disease, is that one cannot know what one’s rate of decline is going to be. There are those who have died only a year after diagnosis, and yet other accounts of those who last longer than the typical 3-5 years. I am taking a large number of supplements, and those may be slowing the progression, but it’s impossible to know. I’ve worked so hard all my life, and was looking forward to my retirement years, so to have that taken away is also very disappointing. I will continue to capture images for as long as I physically can. Instagram: "colinfranksphotography" (birds) and "colinfranksphoto2" for everything else. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColinFranksPhotography/ Images are available as prints, ready for framing. All photos are property of Colin Franks, protected by copyright. No images may be used in any way, shape or form without expressed permission. |