MDA - Thomas Stoltz

It s a disease that s hard to diagnose Lou Gerhig s When it comes to A-L-S doctors rule out everything else and then if they still don t know what it is they call it ALS It s a quiet killer A Dickinson Man by the name of Thomas Stoltz has kept quiet about his disease for a long time Doesn t talk much about it But when he watched last years MDA telethon he contacted us and decided it was time to tell his story Just wondered what was going on but didn t think much about it Thomas Stoltz felt the symptoms 30 years ago His wife remembers the exact moment We were going over the Memorial bridge when we first discovered it We went over the bridge and it make that noise and I remember him saying my hands are numb my feet are numb So what does that mean we didn t think anything of it He noticed subtle signs after that but it wasn t until 4 years ago Thomas officially got the news He has Loui Gerrigs Disease or ALS Kinda like why me Then a guy gets angry for a while it takes a while to learn to accept it Some days I still don t ALS knows know boundaries it can strike anyone at anytime for no reason at all For Thomas ALS means giving up what he loves to do Hunting and fishing or baseball I used to love baseball Or just hiking in the country side It just doesn t work any more He was a young man who could fix cars he could do any kinds of those things He loved to go out and play ball with the boys as the years went on it became less and less just to get underneath the car and tinker Sue says their journey has been frightening and frustrating Today she watches as the things that used to be so easy for Thomas to do have become almost impossible The swallowing is hard to watch cuz it sounds like he s choking And he uses a breathing machine at night Thomas admits he s scared for the unknown he s scared for the day he looses complete muscle control Mind is there but everything else isn t But he s also hopeful that one day all his symptoms will disappear reporter Are you hopeful a cure could still be found Ya I m Hopeful Get progress reports on their research they re doing lots of stuff reporter Do you really believe it will happen I think so Until then Thomas says every day is a gift I m just thankful to be alive and moving around as much as I can Be sure to watch the Jerry Lewis Telethon on Labor Day KX News will be helping to raise money for people like Thomas and the others suffering from muscular dystrophy who live right here in North Dakota