Requiescat In Pace

Brainhell

Brainhell has died. We've been internet friends for several years. He died from ALS, more commonly known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Or Lou Gehrig's Disease.

"The luckiest man on the face of the earth"-Lou Gehrig

From the above site:

(ALS) is a motor neuron disease, first described in 1869 by the noted French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot. Although the cause of ALS is not completely understood, the last decade has brought a wealth of new scientific understanding about the disease that provides hope for the future. Lou Gehrig first brought national and international attention to the disease in 1939 when he abruptly retired from baseball after being diagnosed with ALS. Most commonly, the disease strikes people between the ages of 40 and 70, and as many as 30,000 Americans have the disease at any given time. ALS has cut short the lives of other such notable and courageous individuals as Hall of Fame pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Senator Jacob Javits, actors Michael Zaslow and David Niven, creator of Sesame Street Jon Stone, television producer Scott Brazil, boxing champion Ezzard Charles, NBA Hall of Fame basketball player George Yardley, pro football player Glenn Montgomery, golfer Jeff Julian, golf caddie Bruce Edwards, British soccer player Jimmy Johnstone, musician Lead Belly (Huddie Ledbetter), photographer Eddie Adams, entertainer Dennis Day, jazz musician Charles Mingus, composer Dimitri Shostakovich, former vice president of the United States Henry A. Wallace and U.S. Army General Maxwell Taylor.


I read Lou Gehrig's biography, written by his wife Eleanor, and was horrified to learn that after his forced retirement from baseball, he had to WORK. He was appointed to the Parole Board by the mayor of New York, I think, and Eleanor said that whenever someone would start excusing his behavior by saying "he had had some bad breaks in his life" Lou would just look at him.

Brainhell would have done the same thing, I think. Brainhell wasn't any saint--he was brilliant, sarcastic, occasionally obnoxious. That just made me love him all the more. He didn't wallow in self pity after being diagnosed. He dug in, did everything he could to survive, took every pill he thought might help, exercised his failing body as best he could, and maintained a very entertaining blog.

Brainhell leaves a wife and two children.

Thanks for your friendship.

I will miss you, Brainhell.