"You are not you" - A poignant portrayal of ALS
"You are not you" - A poignant portrayal of ALS One of the most difficult things to acknowledge and accept with stoic equanimity is to watch a young, talented and vibrant individual reduced to a vegetative state by a disease. Death in any form seems cruel to us, but when is afflicts somebody young - paralyzing, debilitating and decaying the human body from within - then the pain of it for the victim and for those who care for them becomes unbearable. Life suddenly transforms itself into something cruel and heartless; and all vestiges of faith and hope tend to diminish - and what remains is an intense state of skepticism and a deep mistrust of life. ALS is one such disease. With its cause virtually unknown, and cure almost impossible - its victims suffer from a condition that can only be termed as tragic. Muscles atrophy, breathing becomes progressively difficult, vocal chords give way to incoherent speech; the fine balance between the brain and bodily organs slowly dege