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topsfan

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Hello everyone, my name is Mary and yesterday we received confirmation that my 70 year old mother has ALS. I'm reading everything I can lay my hands on to learn as much as possible to fain an understanding of what lies ahead for her. So far, there seems to be no definitive way of staging the disease. She didn't complain of symptoms to anyone, but took a serious fall hitting her head very hard back in May and things have gone downhill ever since for her.
She is havng difficulty swallowing, especially liquids and pills seems to be choking on her own saliva. She has been tripping and falling a lot. Her leg muscles are showing extreme weakness.
With her first fall in May, she hurt her shoulder and we're told is in need of a shoulder replacement. The injury happened at her work, so we arre mixed up in a workers compensation claim in the midst of the ALS diagnosis. It's now been 7 months since her fall and her shoulder has not been fixed due to the choking/swallowing issues. We're also attempting to have her get disability retirement. does anyone know if there are doumented cases of hard hits to the head triggering ALS? We're not sure which came first and she of course is blaming everything om the initial fall in May.
 
Topsfan, So sorry to hear about your mom. I was wondering what the circumstances were in her fall. I guess what I'm asking is did she have any muscle weakness that caused the fall. I have heard others on this forum stating that symptoms began after trauma to the head. So we just have to wonder, "what came first the chicken or the EGG?"
 
Thank you for your response. We may never know the answer to that one. She seemed to have been doing relatively good for 70, but the accident report from her work states right on it that she tripped on the uneven pavement. Other workers there have all commented on the pavement being uneven and put it in their reports as well - those who witnessed the fall. The doctor said "What was different that day that made you fall?" About a month after falling, we began noticing personality changes, memory issues, as well as other things. The original CT scan at the hospital the day of the fall showed bruising of the brain. She fll May 22 2008 and her head is still yellow with bruising.
 
Regardless of what caused the injury, undiagnosed illness or just an accident, this is a work-related injury and should be treated as such - the shoulder at least. The company might be bucking you, but the law is on your side in regards to the initial injury.

Not sure the ALS can be tied back though - I think that might be hard to do since there is not scientific evidence of what actually causes ALS.

Best wishes - welcome to the forum - so sorry you have to be here. God bless your Mom.
 
I totally agree - it definitely should be treated as a work related injury.
 
What do you all think the odds are of us being able to get Mom an Accidental Disability retirement for a work related injury on this one?
 
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