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NC State researcher hopes to create 'fairy tale ending' by finding cure for ALS

Some research is done slowly and analytically in a sterile environment, but a North Carolina State University professor is having none of that. He's personally invested in what he is doing because the research may mean life or death to him.

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RALEIGH, N.C. — Some research is done slowly and analytically in a sterile environment, but a North Carolina State University professor is having none of that. He’s personally invested in what he is doing because the research may mean life or death to him.

Michael Bereman once found himself living a fairy tale life. In his thirties, he had his first child on the way and he was working for his alma mater, doing what he loved.

“It was a fairy tale story. I was so excited,” he recalled. “It was a dream come true.”

But in Bereman’s case, the story turned dark.

“I started to get some twitches in my arm, my left arm. I really thought it was just stress. I was working really hard. Then I started doing some exercises and noticed some weakness in my left arm and my left shoulder and I started getting some cramps in my hands as I was doing fine motor skills,” he said.

The diagnosis was ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“It was soul crushing, it really was,” Bereman said.

Bereman isn’t a quitter. He has a Ph.D. in chemistry and is fighting back against the disease by using his position as a researcher, his graduate students’ research and every beaker, test tube and bit of computer data he can use.

“Luckily I have a background in biological research and biological chemistry and I started reading a lot of research articles,” he said. “Finally, it kind of dawned on me that let’s just try to measure it ourselves, try to do these experiments ourselves.”

In a lab on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus, Bereman is studying a specific toxin found in water supplies, hoping he can make the connection between the toxin and his deadly disease.

“Time is of the essence with this disease. The average lifetime for someone with ALS after symptom onset is only three, four years,” he said.

Bereman was diagnosed two years ago. Now, he is racing the clock before his time comes to an end.

“If we could find a cause, if we could link this toxin to ALS, that would be my fairy tale ending,” he said.

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