SHORTSVILLE - His electric guitar stands silent in the corner of a spare room next to the new amplifier he bought just before the diagnosis.

And just months before Mike Butz found out he had ALS, he put out hundreds of meals a day in a busy restaurant. Now walking across a room is a struggle.

"I just don't have it anymore," said Butz, 32, who played football and basketball in his teens and recently rebuilt a dirt bike. For 15 years he worked as cook and chef, most recently at Countryside Family Restaurant in Clifton Springs.

In January Butz noticed his left hand wasn't working right. "I lost the fine motor skills," he said. So he went to his family doctor, who referred him to Clifton Springs Hospital & Clinic.

After a series of tests there and at University Hospital in Syracuse, Butz learned he has ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The degenerative disease is commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease because it took the life of American baseball legend Lou Gehrig in 1941.

The disease, which is not contagious, affects the nerve cells and causes a weakening of muscles that eventually leads to death.

"When I heard the news, I took a deep breath. I was crushed. I didn't know what to do," said Butz, who grew up in Palmyra and now lives in Shortsville.

"There is no cure now," said Butz from the living room of his home in Lake Country Estates mobile home park. A walker stands by to help him move around his one-story home. His symptoms include weakness and tremors in his hands and shoulders. Sometimes he has trouble breathing, swallowing and talking.

"You have to budget your energy," he said. "You have a couple good hours a day."

Butz is taking part in a clinical trial through Syracuse University to find a cure. Samples of his blood, DNA and spinal fluid will be stored and used for research to find a cure for the disease. Three months ago he started taking what may either be an experimental drug or placebo that will test whether the severe arthritis associated with the disease can be controlled. He won't know for a year whether he took the drug.

"I joined (the trial) in hopes that at least I can help people in the future," he said. "You try to make some kind of contribution. Maybe it will be my blood or spinal fluid that will find a cure."

"He's an inspiration to all of us," said Alison Grube, manager of Countryside Family Restaurant where Butz worked for nearly four years. "He is amazingly up."

Susan Whittaker has been engaged to Butz since July last year. "He's not bitter or dwelling on losing his abilities," she said. "He's maintained his sense of humor." Whittaker, 38, met Butz five years ago when they were working at Polimeni's Restaurant in Canandaigua. "Our friendship developed into a wonderful relationship," she said. Wedding plans are uncertain, but Whittaker said she plans to stay with Butz as long as he lives.

"She keeps my spirits up," said Butz. The average life span for those with ALS is two to five years. "A lot of people wouldn't have the commitment or gumption" to stay, he said.

Whittaker works as a waitress for Steamboat Landing Restaurant and Banquet Center in Canandaigua and helps Butz daily with meals, bathing, dressing and other basics.

Butz said he would have understood if Whittaker left after his diagnosis. "You don't want to be the center of this kind of attention," he said. "I know that (loved ones) will take care of me, but I feel like I am putting a burden on them."

After the diagnosis, Whittaker said, "I had to shake him and say, 'We are in this together.'"