His left foot started dragging while he tried to pop up on his board, causing more wipeouts than normal for the avid wave rider. What started as a visit to the foot doctor resulted in an eventual diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, an incurable neurodegenerative condition with few known causes that bit by bit takes away a person's ability to control muscle movements and leads to death.
"The gravity of that day," he said of when he was diagnosed, "of the terrifying fear, volcanic anger, the inconsolable sorrow for the loss of the perfect life my wife and I had built -- still remains as a stark and adrenaline-inducing memory."
