Tammy Finn Petrick writes that her husband Eddie died ten years ago: "Eddie was always very strong and hard working. I started noticing he would trip over what looked like nothing and almost fall. He would always say it was nothing. His boss sent him home one day and said he fell completely over in front of a forklift, and it wasn’t the first time something like that had happened in the last few months. He said that he wasn’t fired but couldn’t come back till he had gotten his health checked.

"Our primary doctor sent him to an orthopedic doctor as Eddie said he knew he had back problems. Of course an MRI showed his spine was possibly being pinched by a couple discs. So he had major surgery done with the hopes of a fix. Three weeks later and no difference. The ortho doctor took new x-rays and proved his surgery was a success. Then we went to a neurologist. After about 2 months and Eddie using a four footed metal cane, the neurologist referred him to a different neuro who specialized in movement disorders. He ran test after test and finally in November of 2008 he gave us the devastating diagnosis.

"Eddie was already in a wheelchair and he was confused. He started seeing people from our past but stopped talking in January of 2008 and ended up in the hospital because he wouldn’t eat. From there he went to a nursing home and on March 15 of 2009 he passed away. His brain was sent to a brain bank in California and that’s how we got the official word that it was Neuroacanthcytosis. A word I will never forget."