A Gehrig passage

Occasionally during the rest of the off-season, I'll put up an excerpt from Luckiest Man, the biography of Lou Gehrig by Jonathon Eig. Just to share a little bit of this fine book.

This isn't going to be like Chapter a Day on Wisconsin Public Radio. Just brief stories about a good man.

The first entry of this series is from January of 1941. Despite his illness, Gehrig had been working for the Parole Board of New York City. Like his career with the Yankees, he continued to show up every day. But, ALS was taking it's toll.

The Eleanor in the passage is his wife. The O'Leary to whom Gehrig writes is Dr. Paul O'Leary of the Mayo clinic. Gehrig befriended O'Leary during his time in Rochester, Minnesota when he was diagnosed with ALS.

For Gehrig, eating was becoming increasingly difficult. Though most of the food he ingested was soft, he still chocked, sometimes violently. He was no longer able to walk without someone at his side. Some journalists said he began using a wheelchair, though Eleanor claimed he never did. His diction grew slurred. The tone and volume of his voice began to recede, like a radio station fading out of range. He dipped in and out of depression and began to think about quitting his job, or at least taking a leave of absence.

"As for myself," he wrote to O'Leary in January of 1941, "it is getting a little more difficult each day and it will be hard to say how much longer I can carry on...I don't mean to be pessimistic but one cannot help wonder how much further this thing can go and I wish you would again drop a note as to your thoughts and percentage of making a proportional recovery. I also understand how difficult this is."

He continued:

"Don't think that I am depressed or pessimistic about my condition at present. I intend to hold on as long as possible and then if the inevitable comes, I will accept it philosophically and hope for the best. That's all we can do."

Sometimes, that's all we can ever do.