PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — It was a routine in 1964 that made Olympic skaters, Vivian and Ronald Joseph, World Figure Skating champions.
60 years later, the brother and sister duo were inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in January. Both are recognized for medaling at the 1964 Olympic Games, 1965 World Championships and the North American Championships twice.
Ronald, who also goes by "Ron," had to stay home in Ponte Vedra Beach due to his growing symptoms of ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Over the past year, Ron's muscles have weakened, making it more difficult to get around.
“It's absolutely the last thing I wanted to hear,” Ron said.
The Olympian went from playing tennis and paddleboarding on a daily basis, to now making it a goal to get out of bed. His physician at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Bjorn Oskarsson, says through his research, Ron isn’t the first high-performing athlete to develop ALS.
“We see that people who are more physically active have an increased risk of coming down with ALS,” said Oskarsson, who is Mayo Clinic's ALS Center Director.
In 2011, Oskarsson and his research team discovered the genetic cause of ALS at Mayo Clinic.
Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 31,000 Americans live with ALS, doctors have seen an increase of cases for the rare disease nationwide.
“We've seen that ALS is a disease that is more likely to occur at an older age," Oskarasson said. "And as the population is aging, there should be more people with ALS."
However, specialists like Oskarsson say they now have better tools to diagnose ALS. Although there is no cure, Ron is treating his journey with ALS the same way he trained for the Olympics.
“When you're training, it's the journey that counts, and not the actual medals,” Ron mentioned.
Ron added that he's not going to let his diagnosis stop him from living life. He volunteers in Mayo Clinic's research trials by testing out new treatment and donating blood so doctors can understand ALS better.