Ride For Life: I still got my brain. I still got my mind.

The Fort Pierce Tribune By Louis Hillary Park staff writer December 1, 2002

It began 15 years ago with a stumble, a trip, just a misstep, but after that, "I couldn't seem to catch my balance," L'Tanya Sapp recently said from a wheelchair in her neat Stuart duplex. "I had just found out that I was pregnant. So, they didn't want to do a lot of tests."

After one misdiagnosis and then another, specialists agreed that the former executive secretary for the Economic Council of Martin County had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Better known as Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS slowly weakens the muscles until its victims no longer have the strength to move or even breathe.

There is no cure. It is terminal. And 42-year-old L'Tanya Sapp knows it.

But despite a divorce and a two-year stay in a nursing home, she hasn't given up.

"The doctors basically told me to go home and get my affairs in order, because I would be dead in three to five years," says Sapp, her speech slurred by the disease.

Though she already has beaten the doctors' predictions by 10 years, Sapp has grown progressively weaker -- from tottering back and forth in what she calls her "duck walk," to needing a walker, then a wheelchair and now an electric wheelchair with a rest to support her head.

Sapp mostly survives with Social Security disability payments of $764 a month, and with the help of such programs as Meals on Wheels and the Martin County Community Council for Disabled Adults, which provides an aide to help her bathe and dress each morning.

Still, Sapp does what she can as a single mother to support herself and her 15-year-old son, Justin, a freshman at Martin County High School. Using a mouth stick and a laptop computer, she works from home some 15 hours a week as an assistant to Palm City wholesale mortgage banker Jorgeann Marozi.

"L'Tanya has the best spirit," says Marozi, who represents Michigan-based Flagstar Bank. "She just wowed me over with her personality and that smile."

And when it comes to Sapp's work, said Marozi, "It's excellent. L'Tanya is a real perfectionist."

PHOTO CAPTION:Fifteen-year-old Justin Sapp, right, feeds dinner to his mother, L'Tanya, at their Stuart home as their dog, Cheyenne, waits for a bite to fall. L'Tanya, 42, has Lou Gehrig's disease and Justin does all of the cooking. "We have a good relationship," said L'Tanya. "But he still has his moods and I have mine."

Sapp's Wishbook wish is for a height-adjustable computer table and Microsoft PowerPoint software for her laptop; an up-to-date desktop computer with PowerPoint would be even better. A van adapted for an electric wheelchair would provide her with much-needed ease of transportation.

Wearing leg braces and with someone to support her, Sapp still can take a few steps to transfer into a car, but once at a destination, no longer has enough strength in her arms to push a manual wheelchair.

"It worries me," Justin said about his mom's health.

Justin helps his mother with everything from eating to getting into bed, and it isn't always easy. Still, he keeps the duplex clean, keeps close watch on Cheyenne, the friendly pit bull mix the Sapps got from animal rescue, and he specializes in pork chops and fried chicken for dinner.

"My dad is a chef," said Justin, who in June moved from Texas to live with his mom.

L'Tanya and her husband, Glenn Sapp, divorced in 1989. Now that Justin is with her, she has started the legal process to obtain child support.

"He couldn't handle it," L'Tanya Sapp said, referring to her marriage. "He was afraid one day he'd roll over in bed and I'd be dead beside him."

In 1992, Sapp got her associate's degree in human services from Indian River Community College, but because of her illness, she has not been able to hold down a full-time job. Sapp's mother, Bonnie Washington of Port St. Lucie, was her caregiver until she died in 1997; that left Sapp with no place to go but a nursing home.

It was at the Emerald Health Care facility in Port St. Lucie that she rediscovered computers and found the Internet.

"I realized I still had my brain, my mind," she said. "I saw that I could still do something."

Armed with that knowledge, Sapp convinced a friend to take her in until she got her own duplex apartment. Justin is back with her, and her 20-year-old son Mikail, who is a caterer in Philadelphia, recently presented her with a granddaughter.

"I've felt myself getting weaker this past year ... but my goal now is to live another four years to see my son graduate from high school. I'd like that."

HOW TO HELP:

Wishbook Wish:
A height-adjustable computer table, $240; and Microsoft PowerPoint software suite, $349; a van adapted for an electric wheelchair $30,000.

To Donate:
Anita Bourque, Gulfstream Goodwill Industries Inc., 1472 SE Huffman Road, Port St. Lucie, FL 34972; or call 337-0077.