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Learning to fall
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Learning to fall
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Content
LEARNING TO FALL
by
Shannon Michelle Pence
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(BROADCAST JOURNALISM)
August 2010
Copyright 2010 Shannon Michelle Pence
iii ii
Table of Contents
Abstract iii
Broadcast Script: Learning to Fall 1
References 13
iii iii
Abstract
It’s progressive. It’s debilitating. It’s fatal. This is a journey of learning to live and
learning to fall with an incurable neurodegenerative muscular disease, known as
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Eric
Lowen is a folk musician, husband and father to five 15-year-olds. Five years ago he was
diagnosed with ALS.
ALS is a rare disease. About 5,600 people in the United States are diagnosed with ALS
every year, and life expectancy is about two to five years from the time of diagnosis.
Although Eric has already beaten the average life expectancy for a person living with
ALS, there are not any effective treatments to slow the disease’s progression. As a result,
Eric is completely paralyzed.
This is a short documentary that tells the story of Eric and his family living with ALS,
and explores some of the latest research being done in hopes of finding an effective
treatment or cure.
iii 1
Broadcast Script: Learning to Fall
Video of Eric playing the guitar.
SOT ERIC LOWEN, ALS PATIENT
Video of Eric playing the guitar.
Tape 2--02:13:24:30-02:13:30:00
Music comes up
Tape 7 --07:04:08-00-07:04:16:30
The last day I played the guitar was
actually during the making of our most
recent record. //
After I got diagnosed, I don’t think we ever
played a show that wasn’t sold out.
Everybody figured, oh, I won’t see him
again.
VO NARRATION
Sequence of Eric and his caretaker getting
him positioned in his wheelchair for the
Hoyer lift.
FIVE YEARS AGO, ERIC LOWEN WAS
DIAGNOSED WITH A DISEASE THAT
WAS MADE FAMOUS BYA
BASEBALL PLAYER IN THE 1930S,
ALS.
SOT DR. WIEDAU-PAZOS,
RESEARCHER, UCLA
Dr. Wiedau-Pazos on camera
Tape 12--12:01:27:00-12:01:47:00
Back to sequence of Eric and his caretaker
getting him positioned in his wheelchair for
the Hoyer lift.
“ALS is also known as Amyotrophic
Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease
and it is a disease of the nervous system.”
When people have ALS their motor nerve
cells, mainly in the spinal cord, tend to
deteriorate and die.”
VO NARRATION
Continue from above sequence of Eric and
caretaker getting him positioned for Hoyer
lift.
ALS IS A RARE DISEASE. TWO PER
100,000 PEOPLE IN THE U.S. GET IT
AND IT MAINLY AFFECTS PEOPLE
WHO ARE IN THEIR 50s, THOUGH IT
CAN SHOW UP EARLIER.
SOT ERIC LOWEN
Tape 2 --02:04:41:00-02:05:26:00
02:05:39:00-02:05:43:17
Pictures: Eric performing in his band, Eric
“My late 40s, early 50s, I was realizing all
my dreams. I was in a band. //. I loved
being on the road. I loved being home; I
had kids. I took to being a dad really well.
I had twins, I had a girlfriend who had
iii 2
with his guitar, Eric with his kids, Eric and
Kim
Eric on camera.
triplets they were the same age as my kids.
I was very happy with my career and I was
happy with the direction that my life was
taking and it seemed like I finally reached
the point that I wanted to be at all my life.”
SOT KIM FERGUSON, ERIC’S WIFE
Kim on camera
Picture of Kim and Eric before ALS
Eric’s music play underneath.
Pictures of Eric and band
On-Camera
Tape 9--09:17:42:00-09:17:54:25
“We had great times, you know, I would go
with him on the road sometimes and he
was the superstar. // I felt really special
around him. // I remember one time we
went to Chicago and // we were on the way
to his gig. And we were riding in our little
rental car and on the radio comes his song
with him singing and I mean, he was on the
radio, and he goes, ‘oh yeah, baby this is
me’ and he turns it up. I’m like, oh my
gosh,’ and he goes, ‘this is my dream come
true,’ he goes, ‘I’m with the women I love,
and my song is on the radio and we’re
going to my gig. It was really kind of cool.
And then he got the ALS. He got ALS”
VO NARRATION
Sequence of Eric and Linda going through
his morning exercises. Linda is stretching
his leg.
BUT ERIC’S ONCE FAST-MOVING
PACE, HAS NOW BEEN SLOWED
DOWN SO SIGNIFICANTLY THAT
EVERY MORNING HE GOES
THROUGH A FIVE-HOUR ROUTINE
JUST TO GET UP.
SOT KIM FERGUSON
Continue exercise/stretch sequence.
Kim on camera
Tape 9--09:29:02:00-09:29:07:00
09:30:04:00-09:31:06:00
“The way we found out he had ALS started
long before we got the diagnosis and that’s
really typical and people notice little
things.”
VO NARRATION
Sequence of Eric and Linda doing
stretches.
ERIC’S EARLY SYMPTOMS
INCLUDED MUSCLE WEAKNESS IN
HIS LIMBS, BUT THEY CAN VARY
DEPENDING ON WHERE THE ONSET
iii 3
OF THE DISEASE OCCURS, KNOWN
AS EITHER BULBAR OR LIMB ONSET.
SOT DR. WIEDAU-PAZOS
Continue sequence of Eric stretching
Dr. Wiedau-Pazos On-Camera
Tape 12--12:13:27:00-12:13:44:00
Linda rotating Eric’s arm.
“So the Bulbar form of ALS causes early
on difficulties with speech and swallowing,
where as the limb onset form of the disease
causes difficulties walking, if it is in the
legs, or using your hands when it is in the
arms.
VO NARRATION
Sequence of Eric and Linda doing
stretches.
BECAUSE BULBAR ONSET AFFECTS
THE VITAL BREATHING MUSCLES
FIRST, DR. WIEDAU-PAZOS, A
RESEARCHER AT UCLA, SAYS LIFE
EXPECTANCY IS GENERALLY
SHORTER. FOR ERIC, HIS ONSET
WAS IN HIS LEGS AND FEET.
SOT ERIC LOWEN
Eric on camera
Sequence of Linda stretching Eric leg.
Tape 1-- 01:15:03:00-01:15:20:21
01:15:25:00-01:15:28:00
Eric On-Camera
“I would walk for a 100 feet and I started
tripping on things and having a hard time
making my toes stand up enough to take
my next step, so I realized I was adjusting
my gait. I was picking up my knees more,
you know, to keep myself clear of falling.
So that was disturbing.
VO NARRATION
Eric in wheelchair making his way to the
computer.
KNOWING THERE WAS SOMETHING
WRONG, ERIC BEGAN TO DO HIS
OWN RESEARCH.
SOT ERIC LOWEN
Sequence of Eric looking at the NINDS
website, going through the steps he initially
took.
Tape 1 --01:16:18:00-01:17:34:00
“I went inside sat on my computer and
went // to a website called National
Institute of Neurological Disorders and
Stroke (NINDS). // I went to Amyotrophic
Lateral Sclerosis because it was in the As //
and it said Lou Gehrig’s disease at the end
of that and that caught me eye. // And I
read the first paragraph describing the
disease on that website and I knew right
iii 4
Eric on camera away I actually had ALS, which up to that
point I had never heard of.
VO NARRATION
Sequence of Eric and Linda going through
stretches.
ERIC VISITED A COUPLE DOCTORS
WHO DISMISSED HIS SELF-
DIAGNOSIS.
SOT DR. WIEDAU-PAZOS
Continue sequence stretch sequence.
Dr. Wiedau-Pazos On-Camera
Tape 12 --12:21:36-12:21:58:05
Back to stretching sequence.
“It is a little difficult to make the diagnosis
at first because the signs are very mild and
over time as the weakness gets worse and
as the weakness spreads throughout the
body it becomes easier to make the
diagnosis.”
SOT ERIC LOWEN
Continue stretching sequence.
On Camera
Tape 1-- 01:20:32:00-01:20:52:00
“So they sent me to a neurologist. I went
in to him the same way and said I think I
have ALS, he said that is very interesting,
why do you think that? I told him about
the website. And he said, hmmm, I think
you might be right. I said, no, no, no wait
you’re supposed to laugh at me and tell me
I don’t have it.”
VO NARRATION
Video of Eric on stage performing.
AT THE SAME TIME, ERIC WAS IN
THE MIDDLE OF RECORDING AN
ALBUM. UPON COMPLETING THE
BASIC RECORDING, HE RETURNED
TO THE NEUROLOGIST FOR HIS
SECOND APPOINTMENT.
SOT ERIC LOWEN
Video of Eric performing continues, music
plays underneath.
On Camera
Tape 1 --01:21:51:00-01:22:03:00
“On March 17, Saint Patrick’s Day, my
appointment, it was at 8:30 and at a quarter
to nine he said, ‘I hate to tell you this
because I kind of like you; I’m 99 percent
sure you have ALS.’ So I said, ‘oh.’”
SOT KIM FERGUSON
On Camera
Tape 9 --09:20:35:00-09:21:29:00-
09:21:44:00
“And he called me and told me and I just, I
just couldn’t believe it. It just felt like, it
felt like I had a refrigerator strapped to my
back or something.”
SOT KIM FERGUSON So the whole time I’ve been married to him
iii 5
Tape 9 --09:02:53:00-09:03:02:00
Wedding pictures of Kim and Eric.
On-Camera
09:03:25:00-09:03:35:30
he’s had ALS and has been getting
progressively worse over the last five
years.// That’s how our marriage has been
and we were really excited to be married
because we were, you know, we just fell in
love, so it’s kind of a bummer.”
SOT ERIC LOWEN
Actuality: Sequence of Eric going through
exercises.
Tape 4 --04:09:50:00-04:11:17:30
“Sometimes you’re margin of being able to
do something, is very slender and then
suddenly in a period of a day or just a few
days, you can’t do what you could just
barely do.”
SOT: LINDA MURRAY, CARETAKER
On Camera
Tape 5--05:51:12:00-05:51:25:00
Sequence of Eric and Linda continuing the
long routine of exercises.
“I would say that one of the challenging
things about this whole process, caring for
someone with ALS, having ALS is that it’s
progressive, so things are changing all the
time.
SOT: KIM FERGUSON
On Camera
Tape 9--09:07:20:00-09:07:47:00
“So every single day you’re dealing with
another something that diminishes him.”
NATSOT
Video of Eric Performing, “If I Was The
Rain”
“If I was the rain, I polish every outbound
train… ”
VO NARRATION
Video of Eric performing continues.
BUT ONE THING ERIC HAS NEVER
LOST IS HIS LOVE FOR MUSIC.
SOT ERIC LOWEN
Eric on camera
Tape 2--02:16:18:00-02:16:47:00
“When I could no longer eat and I could no
longer play guitar, I could still go on stage
and entertain people with singing. And I’m
not sure I can describe how it made me
feel, really good, really good.”
VO NARRATION
Eric in wheelchair performing the same
song, but he can only speak it the lyrics.
BUT AFTER AWHILE, ERIC’S ABILITY
TO SING WAS DIMINISHED TOO.
Video of Eric performing, but he can only
speak the lyrics.
“If I was the rain, I’d choose forever to
remain.”
SOT DR. WIEDAU-PAZOS
Video of Eric continues.
Dr. Wiedau-Pazos on camera
“At this point there is no cure for ALS and
there are very few treatments available.
The FDA has approved one medication and
the drug is called Ritizole that can slow
iii 6
Tape 12--12:05:57-12:06:13
down the disease by a few months over the
lifetime.”
VO NARRATION
Dr. Wiedau-Pazos walking through the lab.
DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE
TREATMENT IS NOT LIKELY UNTIL
RESEARCHERS DETERMINE WHAT
CAUSES ALS.
SOT DR. WIEDAU-PAZOS
Continue Wiedau-Pazos walking through
lab
On-Camera
12:02:27-12:03:34:02
Sequence of Eric and caretaker putting
oxygen on him.
“Most people have what we call the
sporadic disease, which means it does not
run in the family in contrast to the inherited
or familial ALS. // In those patients we do
not know what causes the disease and there
are many different theories out there that
have been tested over the years, but there
has not been one single cause found and
it’s been very puzzling for researchers.
VO NARRATION
Sequence of Dr. Wiedau-Pazos working in
the lab, filling culture dishes.
IN THE FAMILIAL DISEASE, THERE IS
EVIDENCE THAT A GENE IN THE
BODY CAUSES THE DISEASE WHEN
MUTATED, BUT THIS ACCOUNTS
FOR LESS THAN TEN PERCENT OF
ALS PATIENTS. SO THERE ARE
MULTIPLE RESEARCH THRUSTS TO
DETERMINE OTHER CAUSES.
NATSOT
Dr. Clive Svendsen is looking at
pluripotent stem cells through the
microscope. He is talking with another
researcher in the lab.
“These look pretty good.”
VO
Continue Dr. Svendsen in the lab.
DR. CLIVE SVENDSEN IS THE
DIRECTOR OF THE CEDARS SINAI
REGENERATIVE MEDICINE
INSTITUTE. PART OF HIS RESEARCH
iii 7
INCLUDES USING INDUCED
PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS TO
MODEL AND TREAT ALS.
SOT DR. CLIVE SVENDSEN
DIRECTOR OF CEDARS-SINAI
REGENERATIVE MEDICINE
INSTITUTE
On-camera
In lab looking through microscope.
01:59:25-01:59:39
“My lab has been working for about 8 or 9
years now, towards a therapy for ALS
using stem cells. // There’s a theory in ALS
that the motor neurons that die, die because
they are missing a support cell.
VO
Lab sequence
SVENDSEN SAYS THESE SUPPORT
CELLS IN THE SPINAL CORD ARE
LIKE NURSEMAIDS FOR THE DYING
MOTOR NEURON.
SOT DR. CLIVE SVENDSEN
On camera
02:00:48-02:01:06
Sequence of him in the lab.
02:01:12-02:01:16
“Without the nursemaids there, the motor
neuron gets sicker and sicker and dies. If
you can put a nursemaid cell in, it will
protect the motor neurons and slow it down
from dying. So we make these astrocytes,
or nursing cells, and then we boost them
out. We engineer them to release a
powerful drug called GDNF // and the drug
will act on the motor neuron to slow it
down or stop it from dying.
VO
Sequence of Dr. Svendsen in the lab.
ALTHOUGH THIS THERAPY
WOULDN’T CURE ALS, IT MAY
IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR
THOSE LIVING WITH THE DISEASE.
SOT DR. CLIVE SVENDSEN “If you have a patient who’s going down
iii 8
02:11:35-02:11:45 fast, and you can keep one finger moving,
just ten motor neurons alive, and all the
others die, means they can use a mouse,
they can communicate with the world.”
NATSOT
Eric going through exercises
SOT ERIC LOWEN
Actuality: Eric going through exercises
Tape 4 --04:35:57:00-04:36:21:30
“You know this takes so much time every
day and it seems so ridiculous, but if I
didn’t do it, I would just curl up and be in a
lot of pain.”
SOT LINDA MURRAY
On-camera
Tape 5 --05:57:00:00-05:57:23:00
Eric and Linda going through exercises.
Linda back on camera
“We go through a lot together as the
disease progresses, things change // we
learn from other people, other caregivers
that come in, add to what we do // and as
the process unfolds, as his physical abilities
change, it’s an emotional process.”
SOT ERIC LOWEN
Stretching sequence – Linda cleaning
feeding tube.
Tape 2-- 02:09:58:00-02:10:16:00
Eric on camera
I still go through the adjustments because I
am still losing abilities and I can’t imagine
the next step and I am kind of pissed off
when I get there, but I try to deny it and
then I decide that I am going to accept it
and keep moving.”
VO NARRATION
Sequence of Linda dressing Eric.
AND ERIC SAYS WITH THAT
ACCEPTANCE COMES A CONSTANT
READJUSTMENT OF ONE’S SENSE OF
DIGNITY.
SOT ERIC LOWEN
Continue sequence of Linda dressing Eric.
Tape 2 --02:27:43:00-02:28:42:00
On-Camera
Sequence of dinnertime and people feeding
Eric.
“You know there is a self-conscience that
we all share. // But when you are in my
position of being totally dependent those
things slip away a little bit; it becomes very
different. I thought every step of the way, I
thought, I can’t have someone help me to
do this or that, go to the bathroom; I can’t
have that. But if you got to go to the
bathroom, you better adjust. // So I have
had to adjust to people feeding me and
people feed you very differently from one
another. Everybody has their own thing
and some of them stop remembering to
iii 9
Tape 2 --02:29:15:00-02:29:45:00
Eric On Camera
feed you when they get full themselves.
Some people do it like you do it to little
kids, where you raise the spoon up really
high to make sure it all goes in and I get a
lot of food on my nose. // I’ve really come
to grips with the fact that dignity is
something we reinvent for ourselves as
often as we need to // and I have to reinvent
my sense of dignity so often that I just
don’t think about it anymore.”
SOT KIM FERGUSON
On Camera
Tape 9 --09:35:13:00-09:35:34:00
Tape 10 --10:04:45:00-10:04:59:00
“Plus, it’s emotionally just so draining and
I know there are patients out there, ALS
patients who won’t have anybody help
them, but there significant other. They
don’t want anybody else to do it, but you
got to let that go, you know. And I felt so
guilty at first, like letting other people do it.
I couldn’t do it anymore.”
SOT DR. WIEDAU-PAZOS
Sequence of Eric and his family at dinner
Tape 12 --12:27:10:00-12:27:34:12
“It’s a big, big emotional and psychological
burden on the family because they know
there is someone who has a relentless,
progressive disease, and it’s often times a
big financial burden on a family when that
patient cannot be the bread winner anymore
and needs a lot of resources him or
herself.”
SOT KIM FERGUSON
Continue dinner sequence.
Kim On-Camera
Back to dinner sequence and Kim working
in Kitchen
Kim on camera
With caretaker getting ready for bed, being
adjusted in the bed.
Tape 9 --09:13:35:00-09:13:54:16
“You know you think about the long day
you put in at work and when you come
home you just want to lay down and I
can’t. I do, although I have to make a
choice. // You know you just don’t have
any, like, real downtime, and even at night
because we still have our bedroom
together, he needs something maybe two or
three times at night cause you can’t just lay
there in one position all night, it’s really
hard. So he needs the help of somebody to
be with him, you know it’s just never
ending and it feels like it will go on forever
and you think, gosh, I can’t do this forever,
iii 10
Kim On-Camera
09:14:14:00-09:14:53:00
and you think what the alternative is and
you hope that it goes on forever.”
Eric eating dinner with kids NATSOT
SOT KIM FERGUSON
Tape 10 --10:07:40:00-10:08:24:00
Eric and family eating dinner.
Kim on camera
Son helping Eric with his chair and
computer mouse.
Daughter talking with Eric.
Kim on camera
Eric and family eating dinner, camera is
focused on Eric’s two kids.
10:09:51:00-10:10:22:00
“His two kids, they’re twins, a boy and a
girl, and their 15 now and they’ve been the
hardest hit by it.
You know, his son worries so much about
him. // He’s worried when he comes into
the house that something could have
happened. // His daughter is the kind of
person, who, she kind of takes it on the
chin, she just puts her chin up and just says,
‘fine, that’s how it’s going to be.’// They’re
going through a trauma that’s lasting for
five years so far.
NATSOT
Eric and family at dinner
SOT ERIC LOWEN
Eric and family at dinner
Tape 2 --02:31:17:00-02:32:36:13
Eric on camera
Eric in Hoyer lift
On-Camera
Tape 2 --02:32:41:00-02:33:13:00
“Sometimes I struggle with having
something to look forward to or something.
// And I have to create those things too,
cause otherwise life feels like a trap
sometimes. Everyday just the, you know,
grind of going through the long routine of
getting up or going to bed and being sort
of, sort of every time the TV goes off I am
kind of terrified like, ‘well am I going to be
able to sleep or am I going to sit here and
think about how I can’t move,’ you know,
because that’s what happens.”
SOT: ERIC LOWEN
Actuality: Eric is hanging in the Hoyer lift.
“When we were working on the record and
I told one of the musicians that I had ALS,
iii 11
Tape 5--05:18:06:00-05:18:27:00
“Oh, no man, my friend had ALS. They
had to wheel him around the house in a big
sling. You don’t have that. Here I am.”
SOT ERIC LOWEN
On-camera
Tape 1--01:29:45:00-01:30:15:18
Eric and Linda getting him positioned in
the wheelchair.
“I’m going to be pretty much in the same
position for the whole time I’m up so I
have to be very sure that I am comfortable
and my motion, my ability to move is so
compromised at this point that I have to
have everything perfect, or I won’t be able
to move a single muscle.”
VO NARRATION
Continue sequence of Linda getting Eric
positioned in his wheelchair.
ALTHOUGH ALS IS A DEVASTATING
DISEASE, IT IS RARE, WHICH CAN
MAKE FUNDING FOR RESEARCH
MORE DIFFICULT, ESPECIALLY
PUBLIC FUNDING, WHICH IS GUIDED
BY HOW COMMON A DISEASE IS.
SOT DR. WIEDAU-PAZOS
Tape 12--12:18:46:00-12:19:24:00
Continue sequence of Linda getting Eric
positioned in wheelchair.
Dr. Wiedau-Pazos On-Camera
Tape 12--12:19:32:00-12:19:40:30
“Obviously the community as a whole is
interested in finding out what causes very
common diseases and spends more money
on that which is very well justified, but of
course, being someone who is very much
focused on a rare disease in ALS, we
always think we don’t get enough funding,
and we measure that by our ability to really
make scientific breakthroughs or advances
in the field.”
VO NARRATION
Sequence of Linda brushing Eric’s hair.
THE AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY
FOR A PERSON LIVING WITH ALS IS
THREE TO FIVE YEARS, AND ERIC
HAS ALREADY BEATEN THAT. BUT
WITH NO CURES OR TREATMENTS,
ERIC AND HIS FAMILY CAN ONLY
PLAN FOR SO MUCH.
iii 12
SOT ERIC LOWEN
On-camera
Tape 2--02:14:53:00-02:15:08:03
“My goal is to stay alive until my kids
graduate from high school, so I got about
two and a half more years, and I’ll, I’ll
probably beat that. That’s my thought
anyway.”
SOT KIM FERGUSON
Tape 11--11:01:28:00-11:01:36:00
Sequence of Eric and family eating dinner.
Kim On camera
Tape 10--10:27:34:00-10:27:53:26
“I’m going to keep going and I’m going to
be there for the kids and I’m going to be
there to tell his kids about him, about Eric.
// And I’m excited about watching them
grow up some more and he’s sad because
he won’t. You know at some point he
won’t see them growing up anymore.
Everything is mixed. Everything is
wonderful and everything is awful all at the
same time.”
NATSOT
Eric getting ready. Linda putting hat on
Eric.
Tape 5 --05:26:40:00-05:27:15:00
Eric: “Oh, yeah, there we go. Life can
begin now.”
Linda: “Yep.”
SOT ERIC LOWEN
Eric is in his wheelchair and is dressed
with hat on.
On-Camera
Tape 2--02:14:47:00-12:14:52:00
02:33:43:00-02:34:05:00
Music “Learning to Fall comes up as the
camera holds on Eric’s face.
“I think generally speaking I feel very
fortunate. // You know there are fewer
things that I can do than I can’t, so it’s hard
to list what I can’t do, but what I can do, I
can still love; I can still talk; I can still
make up shit, and I can still raise a little
hell.”
Video of Eric and his friends and other
ALS patients singing “Learning to Fall.”
----FADE TO BLACK----
But I still got some time on my hands. I’ve
had to run, I’ve had to crawl, been rich as a
king, had nothing at all, still raising hell
and tearing down walls, I know where to
stand, I’m learning to fall.”
iii 13
References
Hailey Ferguson, 25531 Via Pacifica, Valencia, CA 91355; Ph: 661-253-4249
Katelyn Ferguson, 25531 Via Pacifica, Valencia, CA 91355; Ph: 661-253-4249
Kim Ferguson, 25531 Via Pacifica, Valencia, CA 91355; Ph: 661-253-4249
Thomas Ferguson, 25531 Via Pacifica, Valencia, CA 91355; Ph: 661-253-4249
Annie-Claire Lowen, 25531 Via Pacifica, Valencia, CA 91355; Ph: 661-253-4249
Eric Lowen, 25531 Via Pacifica, Valencia, CA 91355; Ph: 661-253-4249
Sam Lowen, 25531 Via Pacifica, Valencia, CA 91355; Ph: 661-253-4249
Linda Murray, 23643 Via Calma, Valencia, CA 91355; Ph: 661-644-2639
Dr. Clive Svendsen, Director, Regenerative Medicine Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical
Institute, 8700 Beverly Blvd., Room 2048, Los Angeles, CA 90048; Ph: 310-248-8072
Dr. Martina Wiedau-Pazos, University of California, Los Angeles Neuroscience Research
Building (NRB) Floor 4, Room 479C 635 Charles E. Young Drive South Los Angeles,
CA 90095; Ph: 310-801-1273
Abstract (if available)
Abstract
It’s progressive. It’s debilitating. It’s fatal. This is a journey of learning to live and learning to fall with an incurable neurodegenerative muscular disease, known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Eric Lowen is a folk musician, husband and father to five 15-year-olds. Five years ago he was diagnosed with ALS.
Linked assets
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Pence, Shannon Michelle
(author)
Core Title
Learning to fall
School
Annenberg School for Communication
Degree
Master of Arts
Degree Program
Journalism (Broadcast Journalism)
Publication Date
08/06/2010
Defense Date
06/25/2010
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,Lou Gehrig's disease,OAI-PMH Harvest
Place Name
USA
(countries)
Language
English
Contributor
Electronically uploaded by the author
(provenance)
Advisor
Birman, Daniel H. (
committee chair
), Beydoun, Said (
committee member
), Muller, Judy (
committee member
)
Creator Email
shannomp@usc.edu,shannonmpence@gmail.com
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m3330
Unique identifier
UC1503684
Identifier
etd-Pence-3988 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-376292 (legacy record id),usctheses-m3330 (legacy record id)
Legacy Identifier
etd-Pence-3988.pdf
Dmrecord
376292
Document Type
Thesis
Rights
Pence, Shannon Michelle
Type
texts
Source
University of Southern California
(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
(collection)
Repository Name
Libraries, University of Southern California
Repository Location
Los Angeles, California
Repository Email
cisadmin@lib.usc.edu
Tags
living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Lou Gehrig's disease