June 2, Lou Gehrig Day. Across the country, on baseball fields everywhere, fans stopped to recognize the impact Lou Gehrig had on baseball. June 2 was chosen as it marks when Gehrig became the Yankees’ starting first baseman. June 2 is also the day he died from complications of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The focus of Lou Gehrig Day is to remember the legacy of Gehrig to baseball and to remember all those lost to the disease that bears his name. Gehrig holds Major League Baseball records for the most career grand slams (23), and the most consecutive seasons with 100 or more runs and 100 or more RBIs (13). He lived two years after being diagnosed with ALS, passing away at his home on June 2, 1941.
When Gehrig died from ALS in 1941, there was no treatment or cure for ALS. When my family celebrated Lou Gehrig Day with the Rangers June 2, 2026, there was still no treatment or cure for ALS. That’s why May has been designated ALS Awareness month.
That matters because awareness isn’t just symbolic. More awareness brings more attention, more attention brings more funding, and more funding drives more research. There is always more that can be done – both to end the disease and to make life better for the people living with it today. The Iron Horse’s fight isn’t over, it’s just been passed on to all of us.
So how can I help? How can you help? The best way I know to answer is to tell how different ones have helped me find my way down the ALS highway. I have had friends just do things to make life normal.
One knows how much I love the outdoors. She has taken me on the train ride between Palestine and Rusk to have a picnic lunch by the lake and see all the flowers visible from the train. We went birdwatching at Bob Sandlin State Park and toured Ms. Lee’s Daffodil Farm at the height of blooms. She introduced me to the Lindale Candy Company where they make hand pulled peppermint and every kind of chocolate candy you can imagine! We shopped at the Granary in Lindale – a great health food store with snacks, vitamins, cleaning products, personal care items, yogurt, milk, etc. And if you have never been to the Mineola Nature Preserve, you have missed a treat. This same friend spent hours doing research on vitamins and supplements that would be good for me and presented me with a notebook full of this information and more.
I have a group of friends who meet at the Loading Dock every Monday for coffee, prayer, Bible study, and just sharing. Knowing you have a group that is sincere about praying for each other and our church and community keeps you grounded on the important things and helps keep the frustrations in the background.
Another sweet friend keeps me supplied in L. Reuteri (homemade), a probiotic celebrated for its ability to reduce inflammation and support the immune system. Last week I got a jar of homemade healthy chocolate syrup and a jar filled with fresh flowers and mint leaves from her yard. This is always accompanied by a special prayer that washes away any negative thoughts that might have been sneaking in the back door.
Other friends do a variety of things that add to my “bucket.” A couple come every week or two to play games. Another is my “go” friend. We often go out to eat, to a movie, shopping, or sometimes to take a class to learn a new activity. A friend and co-worker gave me some autobiographies about Muslim women that really opened my eyes to the lives they live. I would never have picked these up on my own, but how they inspired me! Another friend I have known since grade school taught me to play backgammon. He beat me weekly for months, but lately the tide has turned. Practicing on my phone helped!
Necessity caused me to give up most of my church activities that I loved so much – cooking for Wednesday night meals, arranging special events, helping with funeral lunches – but I have remained an active member of our Heart to Heart group. We started meeting six years ago with a vision that has continued to grow through the years. I am so grateful to continue to meet with them and do the minutes, handouts, flyers, and slides.
I am not able to attend my Bible Fellowship class that meets every Sunday, but they still include me on the class texts and prayer lists. This is another group of prayer warriors that I am proud to claim as friends. I do attend church each week and am grateful for the accomodations that the church made when I was first confined to a wheelchair. One of those is a place to park my chair on the back row instead of out in the aisle where I always felt conspicuous and in the way.
I couldn’t even to begin to tell all the things my family has done to help me feel normal and independent. I am truly blessed.
So the question was, “What can you do?” I have said several times that I am the lucky one because I am never without someone to help me. But we have seen so many others that are not so fortunate. When I go to ALS clinic in Dallas four times a year, I always have one of my kids with me and sometimes two of them or some grandkids. We see others there brought in by a caregiver – no family. You probably know people who are homebound by sickness or older people who are not able to drive any more. I am living in my second assisted living. I have family and friends in and out all the time to visit and to help. I keep a running list of things that might take one minute or 15 minutes, but I don’t have to wait long before someone comes by that can help. I have seen several in both facilities that never seem to leave or have visitors. I wonder if they have tlists.
You can be the family or friend that helps someone else. You can get out of your comfort zone to look for those who need you. Share a book, start a jigsaw puzzle, take a flower, play a game, offer a ride, sit by someone sitting alone, hold someone’s hand and pray with him or her, start a Bible study group, take someone birdwatching. Make a donation to a special group. Someone needs you.
