“Enjoy the moments”

Honoring the memory of the boy next door

by Liv Stecker

Nate Moats was an all-around good guy. The only brother in a family with three sisters, his effervescent charm made him an effortless ladies man and the guy everybody loved. Throughout school Nate had one goal - to get on his own and start building a life. A single dad for most of his adult life, Nate was a hard worker who believed in making life exactly what you wanted it to be. “He was all about working, and making life better.” His sister Debbie says fondly. He moved to Colville when his daughter was young to manage the local branch of Sears, and made friends instantly wherever he went. He was loved by his employees, his sisters and his neighbors. Being a father was his number one joy in life, and after moving around from California to Montana and Idaho, he and his daughter Kassy found a community they loved in Eastern Washington. 

Around Christmas time in 2012, Nate knew that something was wrong. He confided in his sister Debbie that he thought maybe he had throat cancer and had made an appointment with a doctor to find out why he was having issues swallowing and speaking. His diagnosis came in early 2013 like a shockwave to him and his family: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS. 

ALS was formerly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, after the strong, young baseball great lost his life to the debilitating illness in 1941 at the age of 37. ALS is the degeneration of motor neurons that control communication between the spinal cord and the muscles of the body, leading to eventual loss of all muscle control. There are two types of ALS: sporadic and familial, with sporadic accounting for more than 90% of cases in the US. The disease usually affects approximately 20,000 people in the United States between the ages of 40-70, and it is always fatal. 

Nate and his family were devastated with the news. In Nate’s case, the aggressive form of ALS that begins in the throat had about a two year survival time, but since they were unsure of the duration before his diagnosis, it was hard for doctors to estimate the time that Nate would have left. Immediately his family rallied around him, his sisters formulating a plan for the around-the-clock care that he would need at some point in the near future. 

As ALS progresses, the victim of the disease begins to lose motor control and is unable to perform simple tasks in day-to-day life. Eventually the ability to walk goes away, and ultimately the involuntary movements of breathing and circulation become impaired. For Nate, the change happened over the course of a year. ALS has often been referred to as the worst possible way to die, since the victim remains mentally cognizant through the entire process, experiencing a complete loss of bodily control. From a strapping young man, only 43 years old, he gradually began to need his family to help him with the most basic functions. His family witnesses the slow decline of the strong, vibrant Nate that they had always known. 

While Nate’s family rallied around him and tried to cope with the bitter diagnosis, a woman named Cathey Priddy reached out to Nate’s sister Debbie. Cathey represented the ALS Support Organization, or ALSSO, out of Spokane. Still somewhat in shock and reeling with the sudden changes to all of their lives, Debbie was hesitant to open up to outside sources with such an intimate family problem. But Cathey was persistent, and finally Debbie listened to what she had to say. ALSSO was formed by family members who have lost their loved ones to ALS and found a shortage of local, accessible resources to help during the terrible journey. Cathey and others at ALSSO were able to let Debbie know that they understood what her family was going through, and there was help. 

As Nate began to experience the effects of the condition, he realized that he would soon have to give up his favorite pastime of driving, and the sports car that he dearly loved, hearkening to his days as a kid in California with the top down. As a last ditch run, he took his BMW out to a straight stretch of highway in North Idaho and let the horses run… right past a parked law enforcement officer. Nate waved cheerfully as he blew by the cop, beckoning him to follow. The officer did, and when he pulled Nate over a little way down the road, Nate explained that it was his last hurrah, and he would be surrendering his license. As it happened, the deputy had recently lost a fellow officer to ALS and was compassionate to Nate’s plight, posing for a picture with the lighthearted speedster. 

Debbie says that if Nate had a weak area before his illness, it was his hard-nosed lack of compassion. He believed in people fixing their own problems and not being a victim. After his diagnosis, Debbie says he had a new softness. He would find people with ALS anywhere he went, he had a radar for it, and he would share with them. He went out of his way to encourage people that seemed a little down, making a point of seeking out strangers in coffee shops to offer some upbeat encouragement to. When Nate was diagnosed with ALS, Debbie says he and his whole family “began everyday to see things differently, every little thing mattered.” She took him on the weekends to get coffee and a pedicure, one of his favorite things to do. “In everything he went through,” Debbie says, “he was happy.” 

Debbie and her sisters moved Nate to Hayden, Idaho into a recently vacated rental home of one of the girls. The house that Nate moved into was not equipped for a wheelchair, which would soon be necessary. At the time of his diagnosis, Nate was working for Ferguson Appliance in the Spokane Valley. He had been an active volunteer with the KXLY Extreme Team in the past, joining with his friend Mark Peterson to perform surprise renovations for deserving families in the area. When his friends and co-workers heard that Nate was in need, they sprang into action, and in one weekend, the Extreme Team retrofitted his rooms to meet all of the needs he would be facing in the near future, and added on an entire handicapped accessible bathroom. With the help of ALSSO, Nate’s family was able to also get equipment and nursing help as they needed it, all the way until the end.

Through the ALSSO, Nate met Nick, a 29 year old with a young wife named Stephanie and little boy. Nick had ALS and had reached out to ALSSO for help as well. The two formed a fast friendship and became inseparable. ALSSO hosted picnics and get togethers for victims of ALS in the community and their families, creating a network of support and communication between people who were on both sides of the brutal pathway of ALS. “No matter what we needed, they were there.” Debbie says of the people who make up ALSSO. As heartbreaking as the process of losing a loved one to ALS, it is also catastrophically expensive. “The cost is ridiculous. So ridiculous.” Says Debbie. With every piece of equipment and every procedure, the bills grew exponentially over the course of a year. ALSSO helps with that by providing equipment on loan and covering the cost of some in home care. 

Caring for Nate and coping with the aftermath of ALS was all consuming for Debbie and her family. “It became our whole life.” She says, and the friends they made through ALSSO became the lifeline to sanity in the storm. Nate lost his fight with ALS in November of 2014, leaving behind a teenage daughter and a devastated family. In his memory, Debbie has poured herself into ALSSO and supporting the organization that she says saved her life when her brother lost his. 

ALSSO sponsored the first annual Monte Carlo Night at Ferguson Plumbing to raise money for a wheelchair accessible van for Nate during his illness. Ferguson and many other local businesses gathered donations for prizes at the casino night. The first Monte Carlo night raised over five thousand dollars. The following year, Country Chevrolet got on board as a sponsor and the event raised over ten thousand, and this year, on Friday, March 11th, the goal for the third annual fundraiser is to raise $20,000 to go to ALSSO. The advantage of contributing to a local organization like ALSSO, as opposed to the ALS Foundation, or other national groups, is that every cent goes back into the community, rather than to national operating costs. ALSSO is a grassroots organization, founded and based in the Spokane area, providing real, tangible help to victims of the disease and their families. 

For more infomation about ALSSO, you can visit their website: ALLSO.ORG or email them info@alsso.org . Debbie will join ALSSO in hosting the third annual Monte Carlo Night at Ferguson Bath, Kitchen and Lighting Gallery, 2304 N. Dollar Road in the Spokane Valley on Friday, March 11th, from 5:30-10PM. Tickets are $50 per person, and include food, casino night fun and drinks for the night. On March 7th, Mark Peterson will be hosting a special edition of “Mondays with Mark” on KXLY with Debbie Therrian and Cory Fitzgerald of Colville's Country Chevrolet, featuring information about ALSSO and the Monte Carlo Night. This edition of “Mondays with Mark” is sponsored Country Chevrolet in Colville, and will be on KXLY from 5:30-9 AM. For more information about the event there is a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1555668964725235/ or contact Debbie Therrian at Country Chevrolet 509.684.8400 extension 707.