In November 2023, at age 56, my life changed forever. I had so much to be grateful for; a wonderful family, dear friends, and a career of meaning and impact. I loved my job as chief clinical officer at Mount Sinai Health System. As a physician trained in internal medicine and geriatrics, I had spent many years caring for patients at every stage of adulthood, including those at the end of life.

Then I was diagnosed with ALS.

My first thought wasn’t about dying. It was about living with this disease. I’ve cared for patients with ALS, so I knew what was ahead, slowly losing the ability to walk, talk, eat and eventually breathe on my own.

Fear overtook me. It was more than the fear of death. It was the fear of what my dying process would take. The fear of becoming trapped inside my own body, unable to move or communicate, while my mind remained clear, and while I suffocated to death.

As a........

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