- thomcuddy
- Sex: M
- Data Quality: 1 star
- ALS: 7 yrs
- Ventilator Wheelchair Feeding tube
- Bulbar: moderate
- Arms: severe
- Chest: moderate
- Legs: severe
- thomcuddy
- Male, 49 years
- Manhattan, KS
- Primary Condition
- ALS
- First symptom
- Aug 2003
- Diagnosis
- Feb 2008
- Deceased
- Oct 09, 2010
About thomcuddy
WELCOME TO THE ARENA!!! In January 2008 I turned 47; on Valentine's Day I was diagnosed with ALS. (I would have preferred chocolates, but what can you do?) At the time of my diagnosis I was living in Silver Spring, Maryland. In Feb. 2009 I moved to Brockton, Mass. (My hometown.) Never one to "sit still" (ALS humor :D) in Nov. '09 I moved into my new house in Manhattan, Kansas. There's more about me below.
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More About thomcuddy
I HAVE ALS...WHAT'S YOUR EXCUSE?! (Need to put that on a bumper sticker!)
Italy 1988 - Just back from a "business trip" and hanging with my son, Matt:
My son, Eric, Christmas 2007. Everything he is wearing he took from my suitcase:
Reading with my daughter, Autumn, in South Korea, 2003:
Getting ready to leave Egypt in 1999:
I was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1961 and moved to Brockton, Mass. in 1967 to be with my folks. I joined the Army in 1980 and spent the next 26 years bouncing around the globe, seeing new places and enjoying new cultures. I retired from active service as a First Sergeant in 2006, moved to Washington D.C. in 2007, and started working as the Community Relations Officer at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In reality, I wrote speeches, review medical case reports, presentations and manuscripts for "clarity of message", although I don't have a medical background, so almost none of it was clear to me! Once the VA granted me 100% disability, I quit working and returned to Brockton.
I was married for 25 years and have three children; two boys (21 and 19, as of October 2008) and a daughter, 17. Two live in Kansas with me. I also have two brothers, both living in Massachusetts. My parents moved to the afterlife more than a decade ago before the housing market in heaven took off. No dogs, no cats, no snakes, no plants. 
This is me in a staff meeting at work, Dec. 2007:
I've protected the identity of the other guy in the photo, but hey, this is all about ME, right? 
Throughout my life, I've lived in (in order) Massachusetts; Missouri; Indianapolis; Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska; Upstate New York; Italy; Virginia; South Korea; Indianapolis again; Maryland; Georgia; South Korea again; Kansas; Washington D.C.: Massachusetts and back to Kansas. Along the way I've had stops in Germany, East Germany before the Berlin Wall came down, Kuwait, Egypt, Japan, numerous U.S. states and Canada.
I'd love to tell you more, but one day I may write my autobiography and I'd hate to give away the plot! 