It was very difficult to wait for the diagnosis. I have a wonderful family doctor, but he's never had an ALS patient, so he did not even really suspect ALS, and it wasn't until we got pretty far and got specialized doctors looking at my case that ALS even came into the picture. I would say that by the time of my diagnosis I had had some symptoms for about a year. Therefore, we knew that things were not right and we knew that something was going on. The children knew something was going on with mother.
It was very difficult to wait for that, and there was very little support during that time. Therefore, I very much support research that is being done—and I know there is some being done—in order to try to speed up that process, to find biomarkers or that sort of thing that could mark ALS or give a better indication of ALS.
Once the diagnosis was there, we were lucky, because we live in Ottawa and we have an ALS clinic here. It's a wonderful facility that supports the patient and the family. But of course their resources are limited as well. There is a regular follow-up to my condition and how it's developing.