Bradley

Stacey only seems to want to talk about her friends and famous people, but rarely anything about her family. Bradley lives in a medium-sized town and knows just about everyone. His parents were married for a long time, but three years ago, they broke up. Bradley was really close to his dad, so the divorce hit him pretty hard. His parents were honest and said they broke up because they just did not get along anymore, but that they would still live near each other and care about each other. Bradley lives with his mom but rides his bike over to his dad’s every day.

About a year and a half ago, Bradley’s dad started falling—a lot. He had always been a big guy, so seeing him trip and fall was weird and scary for Bradley and his whole family. His dad was diagnosed with ALS about four months after he started falling. Each family member reacted differently to the news. His mom cried a lot, his brother started acting like he was the “man of the family,” and his sister—well she did not talk about it at all. Bradley did not know what to do. He loved his dad and was really worried about what this diagnosis meant for him. He started reading everything he could about ALS, which may not have been the best idea since there is some freaky stuff on the Internet.