Vivian Connell is a vibrant and brilliant woman who was a teacher in North Carolina. She left teaching to become a lawyer. Last year, she learned she has ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), which is fatal. She has thought a great deal about how to use the time that she has. She has used it well. She has lived every moment to the fullest, doing the things that might otherwise have been left for another day. She is a portrait in courage, whose words should inspire us all to live in the moment, reach out to our loved ones, do what we can while we can. She has traveled, and she even made a commercial in the North Carolina Senate race in favor of Senator Kay Hagan; she knows the damage that her opponent has done to public education. She has lived her life as fully as possible, using her spirit and her determination to take her to places that she wants to go. She knows she will die, as we all must. And she wants to take advantage of every minute she has.

 

As the ALS Association website says, there is presently no cure or treatment for the disease, there are clinical trials that offer hope.

 

Vivian is a beautiful person. We wish her continued courage and optimism and healing. We wish her the strength to continue living her life fully because she inspires us all.