Juliet Taylor

2 weeks ago | alsnewstoday.com | Juliet Taylor

It was seven years ago this summer that I unwittingly and unwillingly became a part of the ALS community when my late husband, Jeff, began exhibiting foot drop and slurred speech, symptoms that were worrisome enough for us to seek medical answers. His relatively quick diagnosis of ALS that fall was unexpected and shocking. Learning that Jeff had a terminal illness amid the relative peace of our everyday lives shattered our plans and, perhaps just as painfully, the ability to dream about them.

1 month ago | alsnewstoday.com | Juliet Taylor

My late husband, Jeff, and I shared a love of the outdoors, even though our preferred activities were often different. I loved to hike and kayak, while Jeff, who’d been injured when a car hit his bicycle in 2010 and still suffered from orthopedic pain, preferred to relax. Whether at home or traveling, many evenings found him outside with a cigar, a beer, and music playing quietly on a portable speaker.

1 month ago | alsnewstoday.com | Juliet Taylor

I remember the emptiness I felt the first September after graduating from college. I’d been a student for 16 of my 21 years at that time, and the void of not going back to school at the end of summer was disconcerting. For some years after that, I quietly regarded September as a symbol of unwelcome change and even loss. It was my first time experiencing sadness related to a certain time of year.

2 months ago | alsnewstoday.com | Juliet Taylor

Sometime in my mid-40s, I wrote a list of goals I wanted to achieve before turning 50. I no longer have the list, but I remember a few things on it: Learn a second language. Complete one half-marathon each year. And my then-favorite, visit 50 countries by the time I turned 50. At the time, those goals seemed attainable and were aligned with the kind of person I wanted to be — healthy, curious, and motivated. That was before my late husband, Jeff, was diagnosed with ALS when I was 48 and he was 58.

Mar 28, 2025 | alsnewstoday.com | Juliet Taylor |Kristin Neva |Patricia Inacio

The weeks immediately following my late husband’s ALS diagnosis were the scariest and most unsettling of my life. Even with Jeff’s physical symptoms pointing toward ALS, nothing could’ve prepared us to actually hear those words when they were delivered in a windowless examination room in Baltimore, in November 2018. In many respects, those initial days of shock and despair were more difficult than any that followed.