9. Breaking My A.L.S. Promise

In this article, Sharon Fiffer talks about her experience with the A.L.S disease. She does not have the disease, however, her husband did. Thirty-six years ago, she husband, Gene, died of  A.L.S. In the beginning, the didn´t notice the A.L.S taking over Gene´s body. But soon, Sharon started to realize Gene becoming weaker and weaker. They went to a doctor, but the doctor thought that Gene had just pinched a nerve. Soon, after going to the doctor multiple of times, the doctor realized that Gene was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or in other words, A.L.S.  The couple bought a old van and decided to drive around the country meeting up with old friends. They called this the "farewell tour". When they arrived in California, Sharon had heard about a famous regional A.L.S office. They went to the office and talked to the women in order of the place. The women had told them that her husband has also died because of A.L.S, which is why she is fighting for this cause. Because of her husbands death, she made her life completely focused on A.L.S. In the end, the women could not help the couple so the couple had to move along. Later, Gene told Sharon something that had changed her life. Gene told her to make a promise when he dies, that she will not make A.L.S become her life and to do nothing related to A.L.S. If she does, Gene told her that he will haunt her. In 2014, Sharon heard about the A.L.S ice bucket challenge in which she participated. This made her break her promise which she does not regret. She told us that she is ready for the haunting.

Sharon Fiffer is very effective in telling us a story. Being a first person narrative, she does a good job in keeping our attention through-out  whole story. Her goal in writing this article was to tell us about her life and her loss. To tell about the promise she broke after thirty-six years. She uses some attention getting strategies, such as being straight-forward, which is very crucial to this article. Overall, this article is very organized and interesting.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/breaking-my-a-l-s-promise/?rref=opinion&module=Ribbon&version=origin&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&pgtype=article