Couple asks for help following ALS diagnosis

Submitted by Willspoint1 on
By David Kapitan Staff Writer

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, has long been in the public consciousness. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, famed New York Yankee slugger Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with and subsequently passed from the disease. ALS awareness has continued to remain at the forefront courtesy of the Ice Bucket Challenge and diagnosis of former New Orleans Saint football standout Steve Gleason in recent years.
While awareness of the disease remains high, knowledge of what the disease is and how it affects the human body is much less known.
According to the ALS Association, the disease is defined as a “progressive neurodegenerative condition that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Essentially, people afflicted by ALS progressively suffer from the loss of motor neurons that initiate and control muscle movement, resulting in the wasting away of muscles that control everything from moving, eating, speaking and even breathing
Wills Point residents Richard and Kathy Collier have become all too familiar with the scourge of ALS and its debilitating effects during the past five years after Richard was diagnosed with the disease in 2012. 
The Colliers initially met when Richard served as a student-teacher at Quinlan ISD and Kathy was a student that also contributed to the Terrell Tribune. Their paths eventually crossed again years later after both worked at Brookshire’s in Terrell. The two became friends before their relationship blossomed, eventually marrying in June 1995. The couple welcomed a son, Matthew Richard Collier, in August 1996.
In 2010, Richard began experiencing muscle wasting in his right hand and weakness in cramps in his legs. After two years and various treatments, including misdiagnosis of multifocal motor neuropathy, Collier was given the devastating diagnosis in 2012.

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