North Texas Woman With ALS Gets Free Treatment

The ALS Association just announced it has received more than $70 million in donations this month, compared to just two million for the same time period last year.

It's all because of the summer's biggest viral sensation, the Ice Bucket Challenge. People are challenged by friends to either donate money for ALS Research or dump ice water over their heads. Many people do both.

But a local group of doctors decided to do more than just make a donation. The medical team at Carrick Brain Centers in Irving is donating free treatment to a local woman suffering from ALS.

"What we're trying to do is prolong quality of life. If we can improve swallowing, if we can improve speech, those are significant improvements in quality of life," said Medical Director Dr. Andre Fredieu.

Sherry Lewis, 64, started her ALS treatment on Monday. She was diagnosed with the deadly disease in February. She can no longer speak and has difficulty swallowing and chewing.

"I know there's nothing I can do. I can't help her in any way," said Sherry's husband Tracy. "Just watching her slowly deteriorate, it's really bad."

The goal for her treatment is to get her chewing food and swallowing again, even if it's only for just a few months longer.

"I can't talk to her at dinner. She'll attempt to talk and choke her up. Something as simple as dinner conversation is gone," Tracy Lewis said. "I don't know really how to deal with it. There's nothing I can do to help her. It's really scary."

On Friday, Sherry, her husband and their five grandchildren came to Carrick Brain Centers to watch her new doctors do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in front of them. The doctors are all privately contributing to ALS research, but they decided to offer Lewis free treatment.

As she watched, Sherry couldn't cheer for her family or tell her husband "I love you." But the spark in her eyes told the whole story---a tale of pride and courage.

"You have a very short window to work within. So it's a challenge, but it's a labor of love for us. We want to do everything we possibly can for our patients," said Fredieu.

Fredieu said most people live just three-and-a-half years after they're diagnosed with ALS. The disease slowly eats away at the ability to walk, use their arms, speak, swallow, and breathe. He's treated about 15 people in his career with ALS.

"It gets tough. I'm very faith-filled. So it helps to think that it we can give a patient an additional day, an additional minute, an additional second of an improvement in their quality of life, then we're doing God's work," he said.

The Lewis family said they greatly appreciate the financial help. They are currently converting their house in North Richland Hills to be handicapped accessible so Sherry's husband can work from home more often.

As millions of dollars in donations pour into ALS Research every week, Fredieu said he's happy the viral sensation is making a real impact in social awareness about the deadly disease.

"We've made such amazing strides with cancer, everything from different therapeutic options, different surgical options, that we didn't have 10 years ago. We want to have that same type of enthusiasm and zeal for ALS."

"It is such a devastating disease to have. And the lifespan for patients is so short, we need those dollars, and as many dollars as possible, to give us options to prolong life and hopefully one day get to a cure."

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