Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Welcome to Focus on ALS which is a website created to provide information about the disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. It is also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease named after the famous baseball player who died in 1941. To learn more about ALS, you can start with the What is ALS? or FAQ pages.

My name is Debbie Tope. I live in Baltimore, Ohio and have been living with ALS for 11 years. I was officially diagnosed in September of 1995 but I started showing symptoms in late 1993. If you would like to read a more detailed history of my life with ALS, you can read My Story.

This site was and continues to be dedicated to people whose lives have been jolted by a  deviously elusive disease that can mummify the most vivacious body while leaving you in complete consciousness. A disease that will challenge your courage, test your faith, your love and your will to fight for your life, and your right to stay in control of your comfort and care.

I am not a Doctor, Nurse, Med Student nor am I an ALS "expert". I am a mother, a wife, a sister, a grandmother, a stepmother. I have been a Person with ALS searching, hoping, praying, learning and trying to understand what is slowly stealing my strength since my official diagnosis in 1995. I am not an organization.

I started Focus on ALS in 1996 as a "self help therapy" and have continued to add to it until it now has over 700 pages. I update my News Center pages as often as news is released pertaining to ALS.

I cannot use the mouse scroll button so I use a hover (no clicking) page scroller by Dynamic Drive on most pages. The right click (you do need to click) brings up a popup menu for back or top of page.

I have added a new Guestbook and Message Board to my site. I am hosting both myself which means that I will have more control over them. There will no longer be popup ads, there will be no ads to clutter the page, loading times should be quicker, and hopefully I can eliminate the trash postings. So feel free to sign the Guestbook or post to the Message Board. I would love to hear from you.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my site.
Debbie Tope

Page updated 12/03/2004 05:19 PM

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