11/11/2023 0 Comments Tim considine 2019Hugh Cahill, who became a friend of the family while treating Jack, arranged with the Red Sox for the McCarthys to attend a game. In early 2021, Torrington neurologist Dr. Every season, he would make at least one pilgrimage to Fenway Park. Jack was a fan of all of the Boston sports teams, in particular the Red Sox. A BiPap machine helped him to breathe 24 hours a day. Soon after, his breathing became impaired. He had to be fed and needed a hoyer lift to get him in and out of bed. By the end of autumn, he had lost use of his arms. “The day they delivered the bed, Jack couldn’t get up the stairs,” Chris said.īy the end of summer, Jack was in a wheelchair. The project was finished in the nick of time. The McCarthys began to convert half of their garage into a first-floor bedroom with a handicapped bathroom. Tim’s wife told her to do what needed to be done right away because the future was unpredictable. (The youngest of their four, Julia, 19, a swimmer at Providence College, was still in high school then.)įully aware there was no hope, Chris McCarthy knew one of the first people she should call was Cheryl Considine. They could come home to help with their father’s care while working remotely. On the plus side, the McCarthys have three children who live in the Boston area – Caitlin, now 27, John, 26, and Cara, 23. The diagnosis occurred just as the COVID pandemic hit the U.S., which meant Jack’s visits to the doctor had to be virtual for months and he didn’t take part in any drug trials. Tests at the Hospital of Special Care in New Britain indicated ALS more tests at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore confirmed it in March 2020. Doctors simply eliminate all of the other possible causes. There’s no single test that diagnoses a person with ALS. “I thought it was crazy, but as we went through all of the neurological tests, he had all of the telltale signs.” “He immediately went in that direction (of suspecting ALS),” his wife said. Soon after, some of his muscles started to twitch uncontrollably. In the fall of 2019, McCarthy’s foot started “slapping the pavement” when he walked, Chris said. More information on the event is available here at.18 to raise money for ALS awareness and research. The Jack Mac Scramble golf event will be held at the Fairview Farm Golf Course in Harwinton on Sept. Their son, John, and Considine’s son, Timmy Jr., played Little League baseball together and were on the Torrington district team their fathers coached for three years. “He wasn’t always about the win, which wasn’t always popular.” “He always believed in giving every kid a chance,” Chris said. As they started playing youth sports, Jack started coaching everything from Elks basketball to Little League softball to Babe Ruth baseball. McCarthy and his wife, Chris, raised four children. The Torrington native played for the fun and the competition.Ī soccer player in high school, McCarthy graduated in 1985 and, after four years at Bryant University, began working at J&M sales, the family-owned beverage distributor he eventually bought. In the case of McCarthy, he was not an elite athlete. Both men later died of ALS, Considine in 2012 and McCarthy in 2021. We see athletes, but that’s all different scopes of athletes.” Tim Considine, rear left, and Jack McCarthy, rear right, coached the 2007 Torrington Little League all-star district team. “We see veterans, nonveterans, people who’ve had it in their family. “We see people from all different backgrounds and careers,” Rose added. Veterans are also more likely to get ALS, but in the vast majority of cases, researchers are essentially stumped about the cause. In roughly 10% of the cases, a familial link exists. Nationwide, there are 20,000 existing cases in a population of 330 million. In any year, 75 to 100 people, out of 3.5 million state residents, are newly diagnosed with ALS. Jacky Rose, executive director of the Connecticut chapter of the ALS Association, can’t even calculate the odds. What is the likelihood of two men who coached together both coming down with ALS? 4, 2021, McCarthy died at 53 after a two-year battle. In early 2020, the diagnosis of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease after the Yankees great who died of it, was confirmed. In the fall of 2019, McCarthy noticed the first symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a neurodegenerative disease that robs the brain of the ability to direct and control muscles.
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