Nebraska mom of 2, Megan Decker, thought her fatigue and limp were due to having just given birth and struggling with a return to work after maternity leave<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
After her doctor suspected ALS, tests quickly confirmed that she had the degenerative disease<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
The family is raising money to help them move to an accessible home, while also working to make memories for their children<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
A young mom who had just returned to work after maternity leave thought she was simply fatigued \u2014 but then doctors gave her \u201cheartbreaking\u201d news.<\/p>\n
Megan Decker, 35, first noticed that she was limping in May, but tells PEOPLE, \u201cI had recently returned to work from maternity leave and had had a long weekend on my feet. I thought the limp was just me not used to being on my feet, and that after I rested, it would get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
It \u201cstopped hurting after a while,\u201d but as the mom of two \u2014 she shares Ashton, now 2, and Emma, who will turn 1 on Dec. 28, with her husband Joey \u2014 explains, \u201cI had just had a baby a few months before and figured my body was still healing from all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the Nebraska mom took Ashton to his 2-year wellness visit in June, she mentioned the limp to the doctor, who \u201ccalled in a favor\u201d to get Decker an appointment with a neurologist.\u00a0 A month later, Decker\u2019s primary doctor mentioned that she was concerned it could be amyotrophic lateral sclerosis <\/a>\u2014\u00a0aka, ALS<\/a> \u2014\u00a0commonly known as Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease. \u201cI knew very little about the diagnosis other than there was no cure,\u201d Decker tells PEOPLE. \u201cEverything I researched online was heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n Shannon Runge<\/p>\n Megan Decker with her children Ashton and Emma.<\/p>\n ALS<\/a> is a rare degenerative disease that causes progressive paralysis of the muscles. Patients first experience twitching or weakness in a limb, as Decker did. The disease affects the nerve cells in the brain and spine that control muscle movement, so patients slowly lose their ability to speak, eat, walk, and breathe independently,\u00a0per to the Mayo Clinic<\/a>. There’s no cure for ALS, and people usually live three to five years after diagnosis, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association<\/a>. However, some patients can live decades.<\/p>\n Joey, 35, recalls the moment his wife told him what doctors suspected. “My wife walked in … out of nowhere, crying a deep, broken cry. I didn’t know what was going on, but when I saw her, I dropped my [building] tools, stood up, and just held her tight for a few minutes while she found the space between deep breaths to fit the words into. Once she told me what the doctor thought was going on [ALS]), my heart immediately fell through the floor. Everything we’ve spent our entire lives working toward crashed beneath us in that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Decker says they \u201ccried for hours that first day. We then kept praying that it was something, anything, else.\u201d<\/p>\n More tests led to Decker being officially diagnosed with ALS on Sept. 2. \u201cHearing the official diagnosis was just as heartbreaking,\u201d Decker tells PEOPLE. \u201cThere are days when life feels normal and I forget for just a few minutes that there is something wrong, and then it will hit me again. We’ve really had to accept our emotions in our house because at any given moment me or my husband might be crying.\u201d<\/p>\n The family has started a GoFundMe<\/a> to help them pay for the mounting medical bills \u2014 and for a necessary move to a home without stairs. As the fundraiser explains, \u201cThey’re currently renting a single-story home from a friend of theirs but it isn’t handicap accessible, and they’re getting to a point where that’s a functional necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n Liz Young<\/p>\n Megan Decker with husband Joey, and children Ashton and Emma.<\/p>\n Decker is already struggling to walk. \u201cI am currently using a walker to get around short distances, and if I’m going longer distances, we have an electric wheelchair.\u201d The wheelchair has allowed her to still be present with her family at events like \u201cthe pumpkin patch and parades.\u201d As the disease progresses, they plan to rely on adaptive equipment, like \u201cvoicebanking<\/a>,\u201d which will allow her to \u201cstill be able to communicate with my family and it will be in my \u2018voice\u2019 even if it gets to the point that I can no longer speak.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Shannon](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/46a75eef8f669d6d159387d10a715163.jpeg\"\/)
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