Submitted photo Chris Yozwiak, a 1992 Boardman High School graduate, enjoys a monent with with his son, Brady, 9. Yozwiak of Hudson has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease and has lost his ability to speak. A benefit spaghetti dinner to help his family with medical expenses is planned Friday at Boardman High School.

HUDSON — In his darkest hour, Chris Yozwiak realized he had a choice to make. He could either blame God or seek him out.

The 1992 Boardman High School graduate was diagnosed with ALS in 2020 and can’t walk or talk. Despite this, Yozwiak, 49, says he’ll continue to fight and use his “voice” to help others.

He and his wife, Jennifer, met with The Vindicator last week. He communicates through a computer that uses eye-gazing technology to type out his thoughts.

“ALS is not a cause, it’s a symptom,” he wrote, explaining that one problem in the body creates a chain reaction of destruction that differs for every patient. “That’s why it’s so hard to find a cure.”

ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive, rare neurological disease with no cure. For years, it also has been called Lou Gehrig’s disease after the baseball great whose career ended with the diagnosis in 1939.

Symptoms for Yozwiak started in the fall of 2019 with a twitch in his triceps. He said he was told by doctors at the Cleveland Clinic the twitching was benign and to get a Lyme test, which showed he had positive bands of the disease.

He said a few months later, he developed a wide gait in his walking and his legs started feeling heavy.

The Yozwiaks were at a party in February 2020 when his legs locked up. He was outside, waiting in line at a food truck and said it felt like he was frozen in place.

“He couldn’t move,” Jennifer said.

Diagnosis came in June 2020, after many tests and disagreement among doctors at the Cleveland and Mayo clinics. The couple caught COVID-19 that fall and Yozwiak was hospitalized for a few days. It was there he began using a walker.

Jennifer said his speech started to slow around Thanksgiving of last year, and by January, he couldn’t talk.

He now has very little movement and requires help for nearly all tasks.

Yozwiak has a feeding tube for liquids and some medications but can eat some food if it’s mashed. Every day, he has 16 injections and takes 60 pills. He said his regimen also includes supplements, peptides and stem-cell therapy.

Jennifer said Chris has a diaphragm pacer in his stomach that connects wires to his lungs to encourage breathing.

They have four home health care workers who rotate to help with his routine, including one who stays overnight a few times per week. Jennifer said all home health care is paid out of pocket.

A spaghetti dinner fundraiser to benefit the family will take place 2 to 6 p.m. Friday at Boardman High School. A GoFundMe account also has been set up to help.

FAMILY AND COMMUNITY

The Yozwiaks met in 2008 on a connecting flight from Akron-Canton Airport to New York’s Laguardia Airport. Jennifer, who is from Dallas, is a full-time pharmaceutical rep and is co-president of 100womenstrongOHIO, an organization that’s raised $400,000 to benefit nonprofits in northeast Ohio.

He is an owner with Sky King Fireworks and still makes decisions for the business, and he and his wife have modeled for national commercial campaigns.

The Yozwiaks have two children, Brady, 9, and Brooklyn, 6.

Brady has helped raise more than $30,000 through “Clayton Rakes,” an effort he named after his street, where he and volunteers have raked neighbors’ leaves over four weeks this fall.

“He’s such a kindhearted kid to the core,” Jennifer said, explaining that proceeds will go to ALS-TDI, the only research institute in the United States dedicated to ALS.

Volunteers from the community pitched in to help, sometimes with 50 people showing up on weekends to rake. Residents paid to have their lawns serviced, while others donated online to help the effort.

Yozwiak, who had landscaping and car-detailing businesses as a kid, said the family is creating a board to grow the raking effort. He said he’s trying to instill in his children the work ethic he had growing up.

“I want them to work hard,” he said. “It’s very important to me.”

In his spare time, Yozwiak said he sends emails and pictures to his kids, intending to teach them life lessons — and so they know how much he loves them and how proud he is.

Through Thanksgiving, the Wesley Family Foundation will match donations, dollar for dollar, to help Brady’s cause. The nonprofit group serves more than 20,000 people a year throughout southwestern Pennsylvania with behavioral health services and support programs.

Brady said he gets emotional when he remembers how his dad coached him in sports or would practice with him in the yard. He said he knew he had to do something when his dad got sick.

“I wanted to find a cure for my dad so he could get better,” he said. “I love him.”

STRONG FAITH

Yozwiak said he thinks often about his friend and former classmate, Christine Terlesky, a 1991 Boardman graduate who died at age 48 on Dec. 26, 2020, after battling the disease. He even did the viral “Ice Bucket Challenge” on Facebook in 2014 to bring awareness to her illness. He said he was consumed by her diagnosis, long before he knew he’d be facing the same battle.

“My pain for her was very strong,” he said. “Every morning I would pray for my friend.”

Also, earlier this year, Jeffrey Fleming, 43, another Boardman graduate, died after battling ALS. He was diagnosed in 2018 and had been living in New Albany, according to his obituary and a profile on iamals.org.

According to the ALS Association, researchers have long tried to establish links between the disease, heavy metals, other environmental factors and genetics, though studies have not been conclusive.

“I don’t believe it’s a coincidence,” Yozwiak said in an email. “I believe a good majority of ALS patients are diagnosed due to environmental factors, including the steel mills polluting the soil and water for years.”

The Yozwiaks know they may never have answers for all of their whys.

Yozwiak played baseball, basketball and football in high school, and he’s aware doctors have studied the link between head injuries and ALS. Jennifer said doctors also are looking to see if there’s a link with neck injuries, which Chris had after falling from a railing at a concert in his 20s.

Even though he may never know why, Yozwiak said he’s able to deal with his diagnosis because he believes God is using him to reach others.

“I put my life in the Lord’s hands and asked him to use me for his good,” he said in an email. “I’m all his and I have a lot of work to do.”