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.

'We All Cried'

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."

Olney's ALS is particularly aggressive. In just a matter of months, he went from being an active backpacker in his mid-50s to a man dependent on others to move him from place to place.

He is now captive to the disease he once hoped to help cure.

Still At It

With no cure in sight, and with just months to live, Olney has found a way to live as full a life as possible.

"I accept the things that I cannot change," he says, with difficulty.

And he changes the things he can. Knowing what was ahead of him, he recorded a public service announcement. He also installed a ramp at his home, and even recorded phrases into a computer program, so that he could communicate once his voice failed him.

Meanwhile, he still participates in research, this time as a patient.

Olney designed the very drug study he is now participating in. It is a double-blind study, so neither the doctors nor patients know if they are getting the drug or the placebo.

The ultimate irony, perhaps, is that Olney is still doing research. And he is still caring for others -- for just as long as he can.

ABC News' Judy Muller initially reported this story for World News Tonight on Feb. 12, 2005.