Millions of people worldwide have cried their way through Tuesdays with Morrie. This touching book chronicles the author’s visits with a former professor dying of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
ALS is a terrible neurodegenerative disease, and I witnessed its devastating effects firsthand during a stint in neurological rehabilitation. But I also had the privilege of living my own “Tuesdays with Morrie,” except my experience was “Fridays with Brian.”
Brian had an unusual corticobulbar variant of ALS. This meant that he retained his ambulatory capacity, and he still possessed impressive manual dexterity. However, he relied on a feeding tube for nutrition and had lost the ability to speak. But he certainly had not lost the ability to communicate; he was able to rapidly type messages on his iPad and have the device “speak on his behalf.”
Brian would lead chapel services from his iPad, and I was captivated by the courage and faith of this remarkable individual; this dying man was bursting with life. And he invited me over to his house for coffee.
Every Friday, we would converse for hours over endless espresso; I would sip indulgently while listening to his epic stories. Curiously, he would infuse some of the decadent drips into his feeding tube. His explanation?
“I can’t swallow, but I can still burp…and those espresso belches taste DIVINE!”
And not only was he making the most of his coffee situation, he was an incredible example of stewardship and perspective. He had been a collegiate football star with an Adonis-like physique, but it was in his physically frail state that he actually led people to God.
He said, “ALS is horrible and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. But I’ve been able to touch more lives since being sick than I ever did when I was healthy.”
I know he touched my life more than I could ever describe, and in my last email to him before he passed away, I expressed my desire to have him meet my future wife. I know he would have similarly impacted her, but that meeting will have to wait until Heaven
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
