ALS. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Diagnosis is a death sentence with a horrific — albeit hurried — degeneration of the body.

My aunt died from this abhorrent disease. She resembled a skeleton near the end. It’s hard to describe how truly awful this condition is.

Lou Gehrig was a famous baseball player. He was the first person in the public eye to develop the condition.

His baseball career was over. That was a given.

But he didn’t give up.

He could have rolled over and waited to die. Instead, he spent his remaining months working for his community. He served on the New York City parole board until his body — not his mind — succumbed to the disease.

Rather than giving in to his fate, he chose to make use of his limited time. He chose to serve his community, to give meaning to his final days.

We don’t always get to choose our destiny, but we can choose how we react to it.