my brother in-law has als. hes in a wheel chair and can bearly talk. how much time does he have to live?

Answer 1

Although every case is different, I can tell you that my fiance's uncle lived for about a year after being wheelchair bound and bedridden. He was diagnosed in 2001 ans died on October 20, 2004. In his case though, the disease progressed very quickly. Before he died, he could not speak, move, or eat on his own. He was fed through a feeding tube and relieved through a catheter tube. To be honest, as much as we all loved him, and wanted him to be around longer, he would have been better off dying sooner. ALS took him to a dark place. Although his body did nothing, his mind worked perfectly. He knew exactly what was going on and couldn't do a d**n thing about it. By the time he died, the only things that worked were his mind and his ears. Our family and friends do the Walk to D'Feet ALS every year here in Tennessee. Here's the site for the main ALS Walk page:
http://walk.alstn.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage And here's the page for our team. The man in the picture is the one that had ALS. The woman in the middle is my fiance's mother, and the woman on the left was his wife. http://walk.alstn.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage

If you would like to know how to get involved with the walk or any other events just e-mail or IM me. I'd be glad to help your family out as much as I can.

Answer 2

It's hard to say. ALS progresses at diffreent rates in different people. I used to have a neighbor whose sister developed ALS. She died in 4 months. Moving that quickliy is unusual.

A college acquaintance got it and died about 2 years later at age 24.

Others live for a long time with ALS. One of my college professors has ALS and was diagnosed about 20 years ago.

So it moves at different speeds for different people.

I'm sorry about your brother-in-law.

Answer 3

The course of the disease is highly individual. Stephen Hawking has ALS, and has lived far beyond what anyone expected. He is pretty much the exception to the rule, and when the nerve damage has affected the speaking ability, it may not be long before it affects the nerves to the diaghragm (responsible for breathing).

A lot of how long he lives may depend on his wishes for how long he wants to be kept alive artificially, and I hope your family has discussed this with him. His mental abilities should not be affected by this most horrible of diseases. Best wishes for you and your family.

Answer 4

it can vary , he will go through different stages of losing muscles his mental attitude has alot to do with it [meaning his will to live] he needs to totally use the muscles he has left . if he can still move his feet he needs to keep moving them same with his arms too. dude this is a really f...up disease if you want more info on all this or any questions contact me outright there is a way to prolong this thing also average time is around 5 years from first diagnosed but i know how he can last up to 10 or so