A Love Story: 2025 Stories from our ALS Community
ALS TDI is once again partnering with Augie's Quest this February for #ALoveStory campaign. Read a sample of the incredible stories below and follow us on social throughout February to read love stories shared by members of our ALS community.
Brady and Brook’s Love Story
Our Valentine’s Day Love Letter to Our Dad
This Valentine’s Day, we want to share a little about our dad, Chris. He’s been gone for just one year, but his love is still at the heart of everything we do.
Inspired by our dad’s passion for yard work and his fight against ALS, Clayton Rakes has become a powerful way to keep his memory alive while working toward a cure for this devastating disease. Over the past three years, we’ve raised more than $300,000 for ALS research. Every weekend during raking season, we roll up our sleeves, grab our rakes, and pour our hearts into this mission. With each leaf we gather and each dollar we raise, we show the world what our dad taught us: love is about giving, even when it’s hard.
Valentine’s Day is about showing love in action, and that’s exactly what we do for him. Everything we do is rooted in love—love for our dad and love for all the families affected by ALS. We miss him every single day, but his strength, determination, and heart inspire us to keep going.
We won’t stop until we end ALS.
We love you, Dad. Forever and always.
—Brady and Brook Yozwiak
Melissa's Love Story
Jay was an amazing friend, brother, dad, and husband. He was a teacher, and a coach, and loved being active. Whether he was training for a half marathon or playing basketball with a bunch of teachers before school, Jay loved to do it all.
One Saturday morning in 2007, he came to me and asked me to look at his calf muscles. He stood on his tiptoes, and I looked down. I just said everything looked fine, knowing that it didn’t, as I saw that one muscle was barely there. I didn’t want this day to come but knew that there was always a chance that it would. You see, in Jay’s family, 21 people had already been diagnosed with the awful disease called ALS. It felt like this really couldn’t be true, that it was happening to him. We had two young boys, Cal and Abe, only four and five at the time. They needed their dad, and I needed him too.
Jay was officially diagnosed with ALS a couple of months later. Despite this, he had an inspirational spirit and was not going to let this diagnosis get him down. He was a science teacher and researched everything he could about this disease. He got into as many clinical trials as he could to see what would help slow his progression and tried any drugs, vitamins, and supplements that he thought would help.
While going from a cane to a scooter to, eventually, an electric wheelchair, he continued to work, coach our sons, mentor others with ALS, and enjoy life to the fullest. That was Jay. He never once complained or talked about how crappy it was to have this disease. How awful it was to no longer be able to walk, hold a pen, take a shower, and use the bathroom the way everyone else could.
Along the way we found ALS TDI and knew that this organization brought a new hope to ALS research and treatments. Jay passed away on July 24, 2022, at 52 years young, and we miss him every day. In August of 2023 I decided to become a part of this amazing organization as member of the Development Team and continue in the fight not only for Jay, but for my family too. Because now, the number has gone up from 21 to over 25 family members affected by ALS. This awful disease has taken too many wonderful people, and it needs to end.
We will not stop fighting until we end ALS!
- Melissa Payne
Jenny's Love Story
“When I am weak, they are strong, just like their father was in every way. ALS, you didn’t win because Pat’s love will continue with our children’s love stories. Thanks for all the love, Pat.”
That was the last paragraph I wrote when I wrote my original “A Love Story” for Augie’s Quest, 7 years ago. I just wanted to let you know that in spite of the horrible physical loss of Pat, his love for us continues on.
His love continues on in his children, who are now young adults, whom Pat would be very very proud of. I know he watches them with pride as they succeed and grow in their professional careers and growing and building their own worlds.
His love continues on with Brenna and her love for animals and her horse shows. Pat loved animals and we see him show up in 4 and 14’s sometimes when Brenna rides in a show. We smile when that happens, look up to the sky and say “thanks Pat!”
His love continues on with the addition of Bri and Blakely to our family. On the glorious day that Sean and Bri were married, I kept telling Pat he had one job for that day…a sunny day. So instead when the rain sprinkled from the skies and we knew that was Pat, sending his love down on us. He made us aware that he was still in charge and didn’t like being told what to do!
His love continues on in his beautiful and brilliant granddaughter Blakely. Her joyful presence in this world helps my heart heal. I tell her stories of Papa Pat and show her pictures of him. He would have been a great grandpa…giving her pony rides on his back like he did with our kids, feeding her his favorite candy…whoppers, and every time he saw her he’d probably say, “hey Blakely, pull my finger!” Then he’d laugh and laugh and I know Blakely would too. You couldn’t help but laugh when Pat’s blue eyes were sparkling with mischief.
His love continues on in me as I continue to work on my ALS Advocacy and help find a way to to end this horrible disease. It continues as our business that Pat built still carries on and reminds us that we can do hard things. It continues as I serve on the Board of Directors for ALS TDI. Pat firmly believed that their creativity and solid science in their approach to ALS research, would find a treatment or twenty. It also continues with me as I forge new paths forward with new beginnings…sending signs of scallops shells along the way.
But still, it is absolutely stunning to me that in June, Pat will have been gone 12 years. Sometimes is seems like 12 day, and some days it seems like 1200 years. When grief hits, the sting of his loss is as sharp as ever. But his presence is still large in our lives and his love shines upon us everyday…so take that ALS, we won…A Love story lives on in Pat’s many faceted legacy. Thanks for all the love Pat!
- Jenny Dwyer