ALS Doctor Stricken With Disease He Studied

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 21, 2005 — -- Rick Olney has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neuromuscular disease that takes away the ability to walk, to talk and eventually to breathe.

Perhaps no ALS patient has ever been so well-informed.

In fact, Olney taught his doctor what to do. After years of researching and treating hundreds of people with ALS -- also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease -- Olney was diagnosed late last year.

His reaction, in a word? "Ironic," he says.

Olney, a neurologist, founded the ALS Center at the University of California, San Francisco, to study the non-contagious disease that randomly strikes one in 1,000 people.

He is revered for the empathy he displayed with patients.

"I would sit with him as he spent two and three hours with patients, talking with them about their diagnosis, examining them," said his doctor, Catherine Lomen-Hoerth.

"We all cried" when he was diagnosed, she added.

So did Olney's patients. Cards and letters poured in. Some came to tell him in person.

"He's had it for less than half the time I have and has progressed much further," said one patient, Matt Chaney. "For me, that's very difficult because it's not fair."