He had suspected for a long time that something wasn't right.

There were days when the muscles in his hands would cramp -- when he couldn't so much as clip his nails or type on a computer. Was it merely, Joel Ungrodt wondered, part of the aging process?

He was, after all, pushing 60. And nobody had to remind him that, although he still exercised regularly, it had been four decades since he had helped lead underdog Wausau High School to a startling 74-65 victory over Menomonie in the title game of the state boys basketball tournament.

And it had been nearly that long since the 5-foot-10 Ungrodt had set a single game scoring record of 41 points for Lawrence University in Appleton.

But when he returned home from jogging one day nearly two years ago and discovered he couldn't do a single pushup, Ungrodt decided to have some tests done. And those tests confirmed his worst fears. He had ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), or as it's more commonly known, Lou Gehrig's disease -- after the famous New York Yankee who was just 37 when ALS took his life in 1941.

Ungrodt, the founder and executive director of Family Works, a Madison agency that provides treatment foster care, immediately knew what that meant. He had read "Tuesdays With Morrie" the poignant, best-selling book about a Brandeis University professor who died of ALS, and knew what a truly frightening disease it is.

He knew ALS attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing patients to slowly lose control of their muscles, and that in the latter stages they have trouble swallowing and breathing and become totally paralyzed.

He also knew that, more than a half century after Gehrig's death, researchers still had no idea what caused ALS and that there's no cure. And that -- although there's now a drug, Rilutek, that can briefly extend a patient's life -- most ALS patients live just two to five years from the time of diagnosis.

So the news "certainly was a blow," Ungrodt says now.

Today, some 23 months later, Ungrodt -- who is married and has two grown sons -- says he's doing reasonably well. While he can no longer use his hands and needs assistance eating and getting dressed, he can still walk and, in fact, still hasn't missed a day of work in 20 years.

Nonetheless, "it's definitely a psychological challenge," he says with a stiff upper lip. "Just coming to grips with the symptoms as they play out -- not only how they affect you, but those around you -- is very difficult."

But he also feels fortunate, Ungrodt says. Fortunate to have a wife -- Lyn, a teacher at Wingra School -- who has an "extraordinary capacity to nurture people in a most healthy way." And fortunate to have found a local ALS support group that meets regularly at the UW Medical Center and whose members not only share insights, but "believe it or not, laugh and have fun ... and leave each meeting feeling a little less isolated, a little less lonely."

Still, Ungrodt says he finds it frustrating that ALS isn't as well known as multiple sclerosis and other serious diseases and, as a consequence, receives far less funding for research. So, with what time he has left, Ungrodt wants to do something about that.

To that end, he plans to spend the next few weeks trying to generate a large turnout for the Muscular Dystrophy Association's 12th annual "Great Walk" on Saturday, June 7, at Warner Park.

Although the muscles in his right leg have atrophied, Ungrodt says he has every intention of participating in the 5K event. For one thing, he believes a dramatic boost in funding is crucial to finding a cure. But he's also aware that "this could be my last opportunity to do something like this."

Yes, that's an agonizing thought, he says.

On the other hand, who knows what medical miracles lie just over the horizon?

"I'm realistic about what tomorrow might bring," he says. "But I never give up hope."

The Muscular Dystrophy Association's 12th annual 'Great Walk' will be Saturday, June 7, at Warner Park. The 5K and 10K walks will begin at 10 a.m. and all proceeds go toward research on Lou Gehrig's disease. For details, call 222-3269.