Tuesday, January 06, 203
By Theresa Katalinas
Glouster County Times
Copyright 2004 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.

EAST GREENWICH TWP. -- A neuromuscular disease has squelched her speech, yet Mary Silvestro's voice still rings loud and clear.

Silvestro, 62, co-owner of Funari's Thriftway in Gibbstown, was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, in 1997.

Since then, the debilitating ailment has ravaged her muscles, forcing her nearly paralyzed body into a wheelchair.

Now, though, Silvestro can once again speak -- through "Ursula," the female voice chosen from her $10,000 Dynavox sensor-activated computer.

"I have such a wonderful life regardless of my sickness," reads the computer screen in front of Silvestro as she moves her head slightly to form words. "God takes care of everybody."

According to alssurvivalguide.com, Silvestro is not alone in her battle against the incurable disease. In the U.S. today, approximately 30,000 people are living with ALS and 5,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. The Web site states that 50 percent of those diagnosed die within 18 months and only 20 percent survive five years.

Still, with a strong faith, a caring in-home nursing service, and the support of Joseph Silvestro, her husband of 30 years, Mrs. Silvestro battles the odds each day.

Her strength fails to surprise her husband, a supervisor of weights and measures with the county Department of Consumer Protection who has known Mary some 55 years, since grammar school.

"Mary's a fighter," Mr. Silvestro said simply, gesturing to his wife's freshly-painted red fingernails and sparkling diamond ring. "She gets pedicures, she gets her hair done, she gets her nails. Nothing's gonna stop us."

Sue Peterson of Bayada Nurses in Washington Township, has helped provide in-home care for Silvestro since September. She acknowledged the active lifestyle Mary shares with Joseph and recalled the weekly visits from friends Mrs. Silvestro has known since childhood.

"Her whole family is just so wonderful," Peterson said. "They're the way they've always been."

With the exception of teeing off in golf and running Funari's Thriftway side by side with employees -- as a manager, baker, shelf stocker and cashier -- Mrs. Silvestro said she leads a full life.

In fact, the Silvestros paid a recent visit to Guardian Angel School in the couple's hometown of Gibbstown to present the school with a $5,000 donation in memory of Mrs. Silvestro's late mother Jennie Funari, the former owner and 72-year veteran of family-owned Funari's Thriftway which opened in 1929.

"The children were eager to learn about this," Mary Silvestro typed. "And they made me feel great."