Ruthie: A memoir offering insight and support for those dealing with ALS or any progressive illness

I loved this book. While Ruthie, the author's mother, was nominally the sick person, her illness rippled through the family. What struck me immediately was that everyone involved had a different way of coping. The father was angry with the narrator's efforts to provide practical help to her mother, and Ruthie was angry and sad because her husband still expected her to handle "women's" chores. Every time the narrator went to check on her parents, she walked on eggshells. What's wonderful about this memoir is that it takes a calm look back at the trajectory of the disease, including the physical changes and efforts to provide psychosocial support to a couple going through a change neither expected. Anyone who is walking the walk with Lynn as she tries to support her parents will see that "taking care" of someone with ALS puts you in the thick of a family drama that you never expected.

Ruthie: A Family's Struggle with ALS is raw, real, touching and tough memoir. The author Lynn Miclea (Ruth’s daughter) peels the protective layers off to transparently detail her mother's emotional and brutal journey with ALS.Coincidently Ruth and I are Occupational Therapists. As such Ruth would have clearly understood the neurology underlying both the subtle and revealing symptoms of her fatal disease. It’s unstoppable progression to death would have felt like a runaway train teetering on the edge of derailing.Lynn’s transparent and beautifully written style draws the reader into the family’s world as they wrestle, each in their own way, with the horrific deterioration of their mother, wife, sister, etc. I was impressed by Lynn’s willingness to reopen wounds that were once so raw with regards to her father’s denial and mother’s decline. I too have lived the arduous journey of watching my mother wither into dementia’s abyss. I would love for Lynn to read I Will Never Forget sometime.

This is a tale of love and the progression of a debilitating disease, told from the perspective of the daughter of an ALS patient, as she meanders through the pitfalls of misdiagnoses, false hopes and finally grief, as the journey with ALS comes to a conclusion. Told with compassion and love, this is a "how-to" manual for anyone dealing with illness, terminal or otherwise. How to respect the patient’s wishes, understanding frustration and how to overcome it, how to search out viable resources, and how to be patient and supportive of your loved one throughout the illness whether the result is recovery or further deterioration and having the strength to carry on no matter what the outcome. A compelling and informative story, bringing heartfelt insights to anyone dealing with illness. Well written and done in a flowing style, Ms. Miclea has accomplished much in this small volume and I highly recommend this book.

For anyone who has had to deal with family illness and the loss of a loved one, Ruthie is a truly touching story of a daughter who must face the reality of losing her mother to the horrible affliction known as ALS. Filled with compassion and care, Lynn does a fantastic job of bringing the reader into her world, and what she must face as her mother becomes debilitated from this relentless and hideous disease.Lynn's experience is one that many can relate to, and her observations of how she manages to help herself and her family members cope with this struggle is a very enlightening and well-told story. Hopefully, someday there will be a cure for this devastating illness. In the meantime, we have people like Lynn who are willing to share their stories, reaching out to us all with this loving remembrance of her mother, as well as a desire for healing and well-being for all of those who are also affected by this disease.

I knew very little about ALS, other than the fact that my sister-in-law (whom I never got to meet) developed it. Lynn Mclea's touching account of what her mother endured helped me to fill in the blanks as she chronicled the ups and downs, the smiles and tears, and the frustrations that a person and his or her family lives through. I loved what she said about the disease not defining who the person is. Great job, Lynn Mclea!

First I cannot say it enough: this book needs to be read in its entirety. If you start feeling “Oh I get the point; I don’t need to read the whole thing. I know how it will end”, I would beg to differ with you. I thought I would already be familiar with the main themes of the book in so far as what the title suggests but darn, I learned so much not ONLY about the ALS journey but the universal as well as the unique aspects of being the patient, being the caregiver and being a family member in the various orbits around the nucleus— that is the person who is not well. There are too many outstanding points to enumerate here; The sharing of the support group gatherings and their soothing as well as logistical and informational effects will hopefully convince all who read this to consider finding the appropriate support group for the person with the health problem along the the beloveds. Secondly, the l issue of the patient and main caregiver’s resistance to helpful assistance in combination with their right to be the deciders, especially the patient herself—> these two interlacing dynamics are central to so many people’s experience as they twist and turn, dance, bounce off one another, taunt one another, and challenge everyone involved regardless of the name of the condition — be it aging, dementia or ALS. To read about it in Lynn’s family memoir is to partly come to grips with accepting that it is a never-ending spiral to which one must gently, lovingly, wisely,/ and most of all patiently grapple.