It is that time of year when the family and friends of Audrey Beuckens meet in St. Cloud to walk in Whitney Park to raise funds for ALS. I can’t even pronounce what ALS stands for, but it’s otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
I’m adding an article I wrote for the Tribune a while back. I wore many hats at the Tribune office while I worked there from the fall of 2004 up through the summer of 2007. (Now I live in Little Falls, but serve as Web Master for the Hoffman Tribune) I had the honor of working with Audrey for a short period of time there before she was diagnosed.
This is something that is near and dear to my heart. I knew NOTHING about ALS before Audrey’s situation and now seeing first hand the effects this disease has, I feel it necessary to “do my part” to show my support and work to “D’feet ALS” . First Audrey lost function of her legs…then her jaw. Her legs would give out on her without warning. She eventually ended up in a electric wheelchair and got a computer she typed on and will speak for her. Now, more recently, she had to have a feeding tube inserted because she doesn’t have the ability to feed herself. It’s a horrible disease. She is of sound mind, but is trapped in a body that basically slowly ceasing to function.
So, I ask that anyone who knows Audrey to consider making a donation towards Aud’s Walk Squad to show your support. Thank you in advance, we (including Audrey) appreciate it.
To donate: please contact Jami Sutton at P.O. Box 532, Hoffman, MN 56339; or call Jami by phone (320)986-2984 or (320)760-0210 for more information. Our goal this year is $2,000.
Trista Whitman
I volunteered to write this article concerning Audrey due to our relationship. Having worked with her for a little over a year here at the Tribune office, I got to know her quite well. Plus, I’m sure Audrey doesn’t want my writing skills to get rusty!
Audrey was “the mom” of the office, looking out for the “young punks” as she called us. She’d make sure we were eating well, not stressing out, and even getting along with our significant others and family. That’s Audrey for you, always making sure everything is alright with the people she cares about. She probably got sick of me complaining about this problem or that, but she was always comforting and knew just what to say to make me feel better.
She and her husband, Harvey, bought the newspaper back in 1963, working all aspects of the publication. Although Harvey retired in 1997, Audrey continued working as our “typesetter and circulation manager,” and like I said before, our “mom.”
In early 2005, Audrey began experiencing some trouble with her voice in church choir; she just couldn’t hit those high notes like she use to.
As time went on, her speech started slowing down – she wasn’t speaking slow on purpose and she knew what she wanted to say, it was just difficult to “spit it out.”
Trips to the doctor indicated that perhaps she had a minor stroke, and the speech impairment was a complication. Audrey was placed on a variety of medications including Plavix and Lipitor.
Weeks passed with her speech getting worse. Nevertheless, she was in good spirits about the whole ordeal. We’d actually tease her that she sounded like she just had a drink or two. She’d mutter “young punks” and continue typing at her computer with lightning fast fingers.
Weeks turned into months, and still, no improvement. We all began to doubt that it had simply been a minor stroke.
Audrey went to see a Neurologist named Dr. Mack in Alexandria. She was put through numerous tests which showed no signs of a stroke.
Further research seemed to indicate a rare disease called Myasthenia Gravis. This rare muscular disease is characterized by weakness of varying degrees of the muscles. Certain muscles such as those that control eye and eyelid movement, facial expression, chewing, talking, and swallowing are often part of the disorder.
With the symptoms that Audrey was showing, Myasthenia Gravis disease seemed to be the culprit.
Luckily, there was medication and therapy to reduce symptoms and improve the muscles. With this disease, the thymus gland is usually abnormal. A thymectomy, the surgical removal of the thymus gland, reduces symptoms in a large number of patients. Audrey had talked about the procedure and was eager to do whatever it took to get back to her old self.
Into the fall of 2005: Audrey continued to work at the Hoffman Tribune, busy with her recipe column and typing up the local news, among other things, but her medication wasn’t working. Now her legs were getting weak. Our concern for her grew as we failed to witness improvement in her condition. Her symptoms were getting worse, and rather quickly – yet she came to work every single day and never complained. Obviously, she got frustrated and discouraged, but we tried to support her just the same way she did with us when our “give a darn was busted.” (That’s a bit of us when our “give a darn was busted.” (That’s a bit of an inside joke we had at the office.)
A follow up phone call from Dr. Mack triggered an emergency visit to his clinic in the Twin Cities. When Audrey answered the phone he noticed her speech patterns and knew immediate action had to be taken. Perhaps it wasn’t Myasthenia Gravis?
Audrey traveled to North Memorial Hospital in December of ‘05 where she stayed for 11 days. Test upon test was conducted: CAT Scans, MRIs, blood tests, plasma transfusions, and more.
Towards the end of January in 2006, she went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester for even more tests. This time they included breathing exams and electromyography (EMG), in which single muscle fibers are stimulated by electrical impulses to detect impaired nerve-to-muscle transmission. “She looked like a pin cushion, they had needles stuck everywhere on her,” explained Harvey. Audrey told me that they even had five of them on her tongue!
Some days it would be up to four different tests, some days there would be two. After all of these tests, they diagnosed her with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
How do I explain this without all the complicated medical terms? Well, it is a progressive disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, specifically the motor neurons which operate voluntary movement and general muscle power. A couple of good examples are having difficulty reaching for the phone or walking up and down steps. Simply put, certain muscles deteriorate and stop working.
As of right now, there is no cure or treatment for ALS. “There was a medicine on the market for ALS that cost $900 a month but didn’t do anything for Audrey,” said Harvey.
Audrey’s particular ALS is of the bulbar type – primarily affecting the speech, chewing, and swallowing motions.
In the summer of 2006, Audrey got an electric wheelchair to help her get around. The local Lions club built a ramp for her home, and the family had to modify their van to be wheelchair-friendly.
Since then, she has had a feeding tube inserted to help her eat. She continues to see Dr. Larry Rapp and Heather Reeves, a Physicians Assistant at ELEAH, for follow up visits. They also receive help from Kari Martinson, a Home Health Aide. “She’s independent,” says Kari about Audrey. “She’s been determined and headstrong along the way.”
Once a month, Audrey and Harvey make a trip down to St. Cloud to participate in an ALS support group. They have met wonderful people from all around the state, including Duluth and Appleton. Both have a lot of fun during the visits and share jokes with other people affected by ALS. Apparently the disease is no match for Audrey’s sense of humor.
