Over March 24-29 2010, Brighten A Corner served a local family in Nipomo. The wonderful woman works with battered women in the county and her husband was a landscape contractor until four years ago when he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gherig’s disease.

According to the ALS Association website: “ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.” In other words, they lose control of their bodies little by little until they die. The wife works faithfully with those who are literally beaten down every day, then she comes home to love and care for her husband.

The mobile home in which they live in Nipomo was very clean but outdated and increasingly not meeting the husband’s needs. It got very cold in the winter and at night, which made things even more difficult. It was also not handicapped friendly, and as he moves closer to needing a wheelchair permanently, that was becoming increasingly necessary.

We fixed the home to help all that, while making it incredibly beautiful at the same time. It was a fabulous time with great volunteers, serving a deserving couple.

Check out the before and after pics here:

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