We just recorded a very special roundtable episode of Impossible Dreams, and tomorrow it goes out into the world. We’re calling it “ALS: Hope & Healing.” And I don’t say this lightly: it may be one of the most important conversations I’ve ever been part of.
We are releasing it during the holidays, intentionally. Because this time of year can be beautiful, and also brutally hard. Especially if you or someone you love is living with any serious illness like ALS. Hope can feel fragile. Or distant. Or misunderstood.
That’s exactly why we had this conversation.
I sat down with three extraordinary humans who are, each in different ways, working every day to change the story of ALS, (pictured below starting bottom left, and continuing clockwise):
Dr. Rick Bedlack, neurologist at Duke and head of their ALS program—a clinician who has spent decades not just studying ALS, but studying hope itself.
Albert Karam, mathematician and data scientist, using AI and machine learning to find patterns in ALS that human eyes alone simply can’t see.
Sheri Strahl, President & CEO of the ALS Network—one of the most compassionate, clear-eyed, and creatively hopeful leaders I know.
Each of these people has, in very real ways, changed my life.
Rick has documented now 64 cases of ALS reversals. He studies as the world’s expert on searching for what they have in common. And his funky hip style help him bring positivity and joy into the clinic.
Sheri and the ALS Network showed up for me before I even knew I needed them. They showed up in living rooms, where I first began speaking and sharing my story. They delivered wheelchairs.And they continue to show up unique in their advocacy with an open mind full of imagination.
And Albert—Albert brings math, data, and urgency into a space that desperately needs all three. Watching him talk about ALS not as an abstract problem, but as a puzzle that can be worked - quickly, rigorously, and collaboratively - fills me with a kind of grounded hope I didn’t know I was missing.
Together we all dare to ask: What if we did this differently?
What strikes me most in this conversation isn’t just the science (though there’s real, exciting science here). It is a shared understanding:
Hope is not naïve.
Hope is not denial.
Hope is not false.
There is data behind it. Biology behind it. Psychology behind it. And there is lived experience behind it—people living far longer, fuller lives than they were ever told was possible.
We also talk honestly about the fear doctors have of “false hope,” and how damaging it can be when certainty is presented where none truly exists. We talk about language, about timelines, about the weight of words spoken on day one of a diagnosis, and throughout the grueling process of receiving shifting prognoses.
And we talk about something else that matters just as much as research and medicine:
The spiritual, emotional, and existential reality of living with ALS.
Who are you when your body changes?
Where do you find meaning and purpose?
How do you stay connected to who you really are?
I have shared, very openly, how this journey has expanded me. How I’ve come to understand that I am not a diagnosis. I am not my body. I am not a timeline anyone hands me. I am God, a piece of infinite source energy, capable of more than I ever realized. And so are you.
This episode isn’t about pretending ALS is easy. It’s not. It’s insanely difficult. Beyond anything the mind can comprehend. It’s not about bypassing grief. ALS has taken so much from me and my family.
It’s about telling the truth more fully knowing that if we focus on the negative we limit what is possible. So we must rise above, we must elevate our consciousness to the level of that which we desire – total health and well-being.
There are brilliant people working relentlessly behind the scenes, and these are three of the best. we will share with all of you, that there is room, right now, for curiosity, dignity, and yes: hope.
If you are living with ALS…
If you love someone who is…
If you work in medicine, research, advocacy, or care…
Or if you are simply a human trying to understand how to live well in uncertainty:
I hope you’ll listen and let us know what you think.
Tomorrow, we release “ALS: Hope & Healing.”
Subscribe to my YouTube channel to be the first to know when the episode drops!
With love,
Aaron
