Team Cai is walking to honor the remarkable life and legacy of Cai Emmons (Jan. 15, 1951 - Jan. 2,2023).

WHO WAS CAI?

Cai was a beloved mother, wife, sister, aunt, teacher, colleague, and friend.

She was an award winning novelist and story writer who published six novels (soon, seven) and a collection of short stories. Remarkably, she wrote her novel, Unleashed, after the onset of ALS symptoms and lived to see its publication, along with her final novel Livid, in September 2022. Hours before her death, she sent a new novel, The Bells, to her agent, which is forthcoming from Red Hen Press. She wrote a blog - over 300 pages worth - detailing her final years with ALS, which you can still find at http://caiemmons.medium.com.

CAI AND ALS

Cai lived nearly three years after the first onset of  symptoms in 2020 and was diagnosed with bulbar-onset ALS in February 2021. She lived and loved and wrote and remained clear-eyed and determined up to the moment she died using Oregon's Death with Dignity law. Cai had the best of care from her husband, Paul Calandrino, her team of experts at OHSU, and a strong web of family and friends to support her. And yet, ALS is quick and cruel and unrelenting. Cai lost her voice first, then her ability to swallow, then her ability to breathe comfortably, then most of her ability to use her hands, which were her only remaining source of communication.

Cai was - and her memory is - more than her ALS.

However, she would want all of us who knew her and love her to work to find a cure for ALS. She would want us to help alleviate anyone else's suffering from this disease. She would want us to raise money to support people in our community with ALS and spread awareness of the urgency to find treatments and a cure

Honor Cai by joining our team in the Walk to Defeat ALS® or choose a team member from the list and donate to our cause.

ABOUT ALS

Amyotrophic lateralsclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, fatal neuromuscular disease that slowly robsthe body of its ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe. The life expectancy of a person with ALS averages 2 to 5 years from the time of diagnosis.

ALS can strike anyone. Presently there is no known cause of the disease, yet it still costs loved ones an average of $250,000 a year to provide the care people living with ALS and their families need. Join the movement to provide help and hope today!