Unable to walk, he’s ready to ‘roll’ in Walk to Defeat ALS

The things Lyndon Gabriel used to make are scattered around his house.

The entertainment center. Tables. The living room mantle.

He remodeled the living room, which Lyndon, 77, and his wife Carol, 74, share. He added a bay window, too. He built furniture for his kids, and made about 75 triangle flag holders for widows of military veterans.

Lyndon even built the wood shop he built things in. He used to scatter the byproducts of that process all through their Vancouver home, as Carol likes to joke now: “He made a lot of sawdust, a lot of mess.” That was how Lyndon’s life went before he was diagnosed with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2015.

“My hobby was woodworking,” said Lyndon, who had a career as an electrical engineer. “That was my gift, my hands. I could use them to help other people. I really, truly miss that.”

At noon Saturday, Lyndon will “roll,” as he likes to say, in the Walk to Defeat ALS at Esther Short Park in Vancouver, with a group of family and friends. Last year, the Gabriels cut the ribbon for the walk, and raised nearly $10,000. They’re on pace to reach a similar amount this year.

“ALS can affect families very negatively,” Carol said. “We wouldn’t have chosen it, but we’ve been very blessed and we try to find something very positive every day.”

Lyndon learned woodworking from his father and got hooked on the hobby around high school. He collected tools for about 50 years, and eventually had to sell them off in garage sale and gift others to his sons Peter and Christopher, who also enjoy woodworking.

Each of the Gabriels’ seven grandchildren will get their own tool kit because of his donations. Lyndon said he misses the woodworking and helping others most since being diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

“I used to be able to fix things. I miss being able to do that,” he said. “Something breaks here. We either have to call a friend or hire someone to repair it. I could do it in 10 minutes.”

Now Lyndon’s wood shop has been transformed into what he calls an “ALS cave.” There’s a bed, oversized chair, toilet, shower, sink and crane in the room to lift and move him around. There’s also a large flat-screen TV, a sign that reads “Man cave open 24/7,” and a dent in the wall from when a piece of wood went flying off his table saw.

Lyndon is still capable of talking and swallowing, but the disease has slowly taken his hands away from him, so that now he’s “pretty much dependent on people to do anything.” He “loses an inch a day,” is how he and Carol put it.

“It’s a very slow process, but all of a sudden you discover that, ‘I used to be able to feed myself, but now I can’t,’ ” Lyndon said. “It’s a hideous disease.”

Lyndon does read the newspaper each day, and plays sodoku on his iPad — he has a special pen for that.

“His mind is still sharp,” Carol said. “He’s still very interested in the world and what’s going on.”

He also enjoys watching Washington State University and Seattle Seahawks football games, and listening to the Buena Vista Demons’ football games on the radio — he has a grandkid on the Colorado high school team.

The plan is to have 20 to 30 people join the Gabriels at Saturday’s walk. Lyndon, who is in hospice care now, said: “I’m getting close to the end, but we’re going to keep going along as we can.” That’s in spirit with the positive outlook Lyndon took after his diagnosis. Carol and Lyndon celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary Wednesday.

Lyndon said support and feeling loved were what he liked most about last year’s walk.

“We’ll see who else shows up,” Lyndon said, “but whatever it is, I’m grateful for them.”