One might assume our ALS story began the day I was diagnosed in July 2021. However, we’ve been preparing for this journey for a long time.

On my 18th birthday my parents asked me what was the most impactful thing they taught me growing up? My immediate response was the importance of a loving family. Growing up in a loving home with two parents and two younger brothers I was afforded a solid foundation which mentally prepared me for life . This important lesson was only amplified when my wife, Melissa, and I got married in 2000 and started a family of our own.

The years passed and our family grew with the birth of our three girls, Haley, Lorin, and Avery. During this time my wife and I became interested in spiritual things which ultimately lead us to a relationship with Jesus. As that love flourished it gave us a desire to share it with others. So over the next seven years, we would go on to adopt four children, Zariah, Santana, Damarcus, and Trey. God continued to guide and bless our family including surprising us when my wife, having had a tubaligation 15 years prior, became pregnant at the age of 40 with our eighth (and final) child Quinn.

Like most families, we had our ups and downs after all to be alive means you will experience difficult trials in this life.  So when ALS violently crashed into our lives destroying my body and altering our dreams we leaned on the mental strength a loving family provides. We spiritually grasped onto the promises of a loving God.  Knowing that ALS may cripple my body, alter my dreams and ultimately take my life but that its no match for the love in and around me. So while we may not know where this ALS journey will take us, we have peace knowing that in the end, love wins.