Woman with ALS comes up with heartwarming way to read to future grandchildren
Many ALS patients face difficulties speaking and changes to their voice.
A woman diagnosed with a paralyzing disease that has the potential to take away her voice has come up with a creative way to make sure she can read aloud to her future grandchildren.
"I want them to know that they were loved even before they were born," Della Larsen, a mom of three, told "Good Morning America" of her future grandkids.
Larsen, 59, was diagnosed in April 2023 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS, a disease that affects a person's motor nerve cells, interfering with the brain's ability to control muscle movements. The disease can cause varying symptoms, including slurred speech and voice changes.-09
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 32,000 people in the U.S. live with ALS and there is no cure yet for the motor neuron condition, which is also called Lou Gehrig's disease, after the MLB star who was diagnosed with it in 1939.
Knowing that ALS could affect her voice, Larsen decided on a plan to read to her future grandchildren, even though her kids don't have children of their own yet.
She opened up about the plan in a viral social media post first shared on Instagram last year and again in a July TikTok post this year.
Larsen explained that she learned about and went ahead with voice banking, where one's voice and phrases are recorded, and a synthesized voice is created from the recordings. She recorded herself reading 30 children's books as well, to be watched and enjoyed in the future.
"Before I was diagnosed, I was a kindergarten teacher, and the thought of not being able to read to them hit home, so by recording the books, they can hear me reading them," Larsen explained.
Today, Larsen uses a wheelchair and her voice has changed significantly, with her speech becoming more slurred. Larsen's book recordings now live in her YouTube channel, and physical copies of the children's books she recorded also feature a "Grandma's Bookshelf" sticker with a QR code that, when scanned, take the viewer to the book recording video.