Rose Spielman, my wife of 25+ years, passed away from ALS on March 25, 2025. Rose, like 90% of those diagnosed with ALS, do not find out that they have ALS by a genetic test. It took about a year for us to exhaust all the potential autoimmune and related diseases, before the ALS diagnosis was made. We had teams in Boston and New Haven trying to diagnose her and granted some of her symptoms and tests did not align with an ALS diagnosis at first. By the fall of 2023, when it had been determined that all the autoimmune treatments had performed as they should without effect, Rose was diagnosed.

For Rose it was devastatingly painful. While she first lost her ability to walk, losing her ability to speak was unimaginably frustrating.  Rose, as many of you know, was very social but she relied almost solely on an eye gaze device (TobiiDynavox) to make her thoughts known letter by letter, word by word, for her last year of life.  Still Rose completed her second textbook, Lifespan Development, through Wisewire/openstax, that is now available to students for free. Her first, Introduction to Psychology, is one of the most widely used textbooks today!   Her desire to teach psychology to many people is one of her proudest achievements. 

Unfortunately, this is not my first tour of Light House Park walking for ALS. I walked for my co-worker and friend, Amanda Pumm Bernier, ~2013-2017. 

Either by physically joining the team and walking with us on October 5 or by donating to a team member, your support is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your consideration,

Tim