Brutal footage reveals devastating impact of motor neurone disease on 'healthy' 36-year-old in just ONE YEAR
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A shocking video clip has revealed the devastatingly rapid progression of deadly motor neurone disease on almost every part of a young woman's body.
Brooke Eby, 36, from Maryland in the US, shared the video on Instagram — which documents her becoming wheelchair bound in the space of a year.
The previously healthy business development manager was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — the most common form of motor neurone disease — in 2022, three years after experiencing her first warning signs.
The muscle wasting condition is incurable and gradually stops patients being able to move, talk and even eat.
ALS claimed the life of Sandra Bullock's partner Bryan Randall in 2023 and the acclaimed scientist Stephen Hawking famously suffered from it.
Now in the video that's been watched more than half a million times, Brooke has revealed how she quickly began to struggle to speak and walk unaided.
In June last year she was using a walking stick — and by December she was permanently reliant on a wheelchair to get around.
Both arms are now so weak she struggles to lift them.
Brooke Eby was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — the most common form of motor neurone disease — in 2022, three years after experiencing her first warning signs of the condition
In a separate video posted earlier this month, she also gave her followers a 'progression update' on her condition.
'It's April 2025, I hit my three year diagnosiversary last month, so let's do an update,' she said.
'At this point we can skip the legs because we know those have not worked in a while.
'But there's been a pretty big change with my arms. My left arm is bent in towards me.
'If it's in front of me or to the side of me, I can't lift it at all. In the last two weeks my right arm has followed suit.'
She added: 'The muscle has gotten a lot weaker which means I can't feed myself that well.
'I can still use my phone and text. It's just that my phone needs to be right here [directly in front].
'If you put my phone right on my armrest I have to inch by inch push my arm over.'
Now on Instagram, in a series of videos often watched more than 500,000 times, she shares the reality of living in a body that no longer functions as it used to
'As my arms have gotten weaker, my shoulder has started to atrophy [waste away or shrink]. My hands look worse than ever.'
She also told how when she moves her head to look downwards, she now struggles to look back up again as 'it feels like someone's pushing against me'.
While she is not slurring her words, she also has to now take deep breaths before sentences.
'Other than that, I'm just feeling pretty rough,' she added.
'I feel like I'm waking up either nauseous, in pain, restless or exhausted. I just miss waking up and feeling good.'
ALS is a rare condition that progressively damages parts of the nervous system.
For Brooke, the first signs of the were subtle. At 29, she began noticing a strange tightness in her left calf.
'I also noticed that I was walking really really slowly but I did not think much of it because I was 29,' she said.
ALS can lead to paralysis and eventually death. The acclaimed scientist Stephen Hawking famously suffered from it
ALS also claimed the life of Sandra Bullock's partner Bryan Randall (pictured with Sandra in 2018) in 2023
But it was only after multiple tests and scans over the course of three years that she was eventually given an ALS diagnosis.
In a separate video she told her followers: 'When I first got diagnosed it took me a solid two months to even say the word ALS.
'I really was not comfortable talking about it.
'I would cry really quickly. But then I went to a friend's wedding two months after my diagnosis.
'I was in the wedding so I couldn't hide, I was a bridesmaid and I showed up using a walker.
'It was the exact same walker as the bride's grandma. I turned to my friend so embarrassed because it was a big college reunion and said "I think we've got to leave".
'And she said, no this could be really embarrassing but we could just make it really fun.'
She added: 'An hour later I had the bride limbo-ing under my walker and I was giving walker rides on the dance floor.
Leeds Rhinos star Rob Burrow (pictured) died last year at the age of just 41 after a four-and-a-half-year battle with MND
This rare and incurable condition affects the brain and nerves, robbing sufferers of their ability to move, to eat and eventually breathe. Pictured, Rob Burrow in 2013
'I just realised that making people laugh makes me so much more comfortable.'
Around 5,000 adults in the UK have ALS and there is a one in 300 risk of developing the condition over the course of a person's life.
Life expectancy for about half of those with the condition is between just two and five years from the onset of symptoms. But these can worsen rapidly.
Some people may live for up to 10 years, and, in rarer circumstances, even longer.
Along with twitches, cramps and muscle weakness are among the early signs of the condition, along with slurred speech and weight loss.
There is no cure but doctors can provide treatments to help reduce the impact it has on a person's life.
The exact cause is largely unknown, but current research points towards a complex interplay of genetic, environmental, and possibly lifestyle factors—and it often hits seemingly fit and healthy people.
Last year, Leeds Rhinos star Rob Burrow, 41, died after a four-and-a-half-year battle with the condition.
Locked-in syndrome (LIS) is a rare neurological disorder that can also occur in some progressive cases of ALS.
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