For many people, throwing the first pitch at your favorite Major League Baseball team’s home game sounds like a dream. That dream came true for Riverside resident Monica O’Callaghan, who took to the diamond Sunday, May 26, at Guaranteed Rate Field, alongside her daughters and physical therapist, to help the White Sox celebrate Lou Gehrig Day.
The holiday, celebrated by teams on or around June 2 since 2021, is MLB’s way of raising awareness for ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The incurable terminal illness, which affects people’s nervous systems and causes a progressive loss of muscle control, halted the career of legendary Yankees player Lou Gehrig in 1939 before he died from it in 1941. Since then, ALS has frequently been associated with Gehrig and is sometimes known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
O’Callaghan was diagnosed with ALS in 2022 after she started having trouble speaking the year before. Since then, the disease has progressed to affect her fine motor skills and mobility, requiring her to use leg braces and a walker.
“But she’s generally very positive,” said her daughter, Natalie O’Callaghan.
Because of Monica O’Callaghan’s difficulty speaking, her daughter often spoke on her behalf or clarified what she was saying during a joint interview with the Landmark on May 24.
Natalie O’Callaghan said the chance for her mom to throw the first pitch for the White Sox arose around March through I AM ALS, a “patient-led community” for those with ALS that she and her mom got connected with last year.
“I AM ALS put out on their social media channels that they needed volunteers to help with Lou Gehrig Day … for a whole bunch of different teams, and the White Sox was listed,” Natalie O’Callaghan said. “We’ve always been White Sox fans. My late father, Monica’s late husband, was a huge White Sox fan, so I jumped on it and got connected with the folks I knew over there.”
Monica O’Callaghan was one of several ALS patients present at the White Sox game to recognize Lou Gehrig Day. Others attended the game through other ALS organizations such as the Les Turner ALS Foundation, ALS United Greater Chicago and the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Natalie O’Callaghan said. Altogether, people living with ALS handed over the game ball and lineup cards at the game in addition to throwing the first pitch and yelling, “Play ball!”
Natalie O’Callaghan said she “voluntold” her mom for the opportunity even though her mom was hesitant at first.
“I was like, Mom, if we were at a Sox game two years ago when you first got diagnosed, and I saw a mom and her two daughters go out on the [field], it would bring me so much peace in knowing, too, that even though this is an awful disease with no cure and really limited treatment options, that life goes on,” she said. “It looks different, but you can still do different things.”
She added that her family’s experience working with the White Sox was “so wonderful.”
“They might not be winning a lot of games, but they are a class act of an organization, truly,” she said.
With only a couple days until the game, Monica O’Callaghan said she felt happy about getting to throw the first pitch.
“It’s not for me, it’s for everyone and awareness,” she said herself.
Natalie O’Callaghan said Lou Gehrig Day and ALS Awareness Month, which is celebrated in May, are important for raising awareness about the “misunderstood disease” and the different ways it can manifest.
“It progresses so differently. So many people will experience symptoms that start in their limbs, and their speech stays fine for a long time, and then you have people like my mom, where it starts with their speech, but they can still walk with a walker and do different things,” she said. “We all remember the ice bucket challenge from a while ago, but since then, there hasn’t been a lot of large-scale fundraising and awareness efforts.”
The ice bucket challenge, wherein celebrities poured buckets of ice water over their heads to raise awareness for ALS, went viral on social media in 2014.
Monica O’Callaghan agreed that ALS awareness is important because anyone can develop it at any stage of life.
“Because it’s a rare disease, it gets ignored, but it’s increasing and it can strike at any age,” she said using a text-to-speech device. “Oftentimes, it strikes those that are physically fit.”
According to I AM ALS, about one in 300 people will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime and only about 10% of patients have a family history with ALS.
While patients with ALS have access to accommodations to improve their quality of life, like mobility devices, text-to-speech technology and home modifications, progress on treatment is not always steady. O’Callaghan is now a member of a drug trial at Northwestern Medicine after one of her medications, Relyvrio, was pulled from the market in April. There is still no known cure for ALS.
“It’s one of those things that kind of shakes up your world, and you don’t know how to deal with it,” Natalie O’Callaghan said. “But through a good community, you can get through it, I think.”
