By David Tepera, February 8, 2023

Recently, a good friend and client named John passed away. John was battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

For your information and to keep it simple, this disease causes a person to lose connection from the brain to the muscles. Bottom line, it affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss in muscle control.

ALS will gradually prohibit the ability to speak, swallow, walk and breathe. Life expectancy is typically 2-5 years.

John had been training with me for almost four years. Two years ago, he went to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota where the doctors diagnosed him with the deadly disease. The one thing that astonished the Mayo doctors was how strong John was in his stage of ALS.

The department heads of physical therapy and doctors called me to find out what type of weight training program I developed for John. He was the first to be that strong in late stages while maintaining a quality of life.

These were very educational phone calls because I had questions for them as well. They learned from me as I learned from them to continue the best program possible for my friend John.

The Mayo Clinic told John he would be confined to a bed within two years. Several weeks ago, John was laughing how he was beating all the odds.

Just know, John did need the use of a walker, could no longer drive and his speech was difficult to understand. But, he could leg press 225 pounds, bench press 80 pounds, along with other lifts and had the best quality of life possible for his condition.

There are other complications that come with ALS that took John down. John’s wife repeatedly thanked me for keeping him active to the end.

Now, what about you? What’s keeping you from fighting for your life? It doesn’t matter what the doctors have diagnosed you with. Get your game face on, strap up your boxing gloves and start punching and battling your opponent.

I competed in martial arts for more than 10 years. I trained and fought with some of the greatest champions in the world. But, believe me, the greatest fighter I ever met was my good friend John.

As the tears are flowing, I’ll miss you buddy.