tDiane LaMotte spoke these words to the Trinity Family at a school assembly in January of 2005:
“Having a disease like this is a devastating experience…. Sometimes life presents us with challenges. These challenges can be seen as an opportunity to teach us to be more patient, have more compassion, and to love more deeply. Now, more than ever, I choose to look at the positives that surround me in life, and not to dwell on the negatives. One positive, in particular, is the number of people who have come together to show their love and support to our family ..” (a quote from the book)
These are the words of a wise and optimistic woman who took what life dealt her and made the best of it. Those of us who were lucky enough to call Diane a friend learned first hand what it meant to live life with courage and grace in the face of adversity.Diane was hardly alone as she met her challenges one by one. Keith, her husband, and Amanda, her daughter, were each faced with one of life’s most difficult challenges .. being a caregiver to a wife and mother with a fatal degenerative disease. They both “stepped up to the plate” and did what had to be done with love, compassion and selflessness.
A few months after Diane’s death in September of 2005, Keith began to write a memoir. The main intention of writing the book was to share with the reader in great detail what a patient and their family might expect to go through when living with a disease such as ALS.This book succeeded in doing that and much more. “No One Loves Me Like You Do” is first and foremost a tribute to a woman who was an example to us all on how to face adversity. Keith also shares with us a very personal and touching account of what it truly means to love “in sickness and in health”.
Even if ALS hasn’t touched your life, this memoir is about more than just ALS. It’s an inspirational story about a woman who was being robbed of her physical independence day by day. But, as she slowly lost the use of her body, she gained something else. As her body weakened, the level of love and intimacy she felt from and for her family and friends increased daily. Diane focused on the positive.
Anne Marie Lentz
Board of Directors
Diane LaMotte ALS Foundation
Download a .pdf file and read on-line part two of "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do" An ALS Caregivers story about living, loving, laughter and leaving a legacy...a memoir. by Keith LaMotte