While interviewing Dawn Clark Netsch six days before her death last year, I admired her tenacity and willingness to discuss her terminal illness.

Earlier that year, Netsch — a former Illinois comptroller, state senator and law professor — went public with her diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It’s also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which destroys nerves, causes progressive paralysis and is eventually fatal.

The debilitating disease became well-known when baseball legend Lou Gehrig was diagnosed in 1939. There is currently no cure.

In explaining why she went public, Netsch said: “Being a straight-shooter, which was my campaign slogan, I thought maybe it would make more sense if I said, ‘Here is my condition and the reason you won’t be seeing me as much as you did.’ ”

In addition, she said she believed “it’s always at least a little bit of a contribution to put someone out there that is identifiable who has the disease who can, in effect, hope to call attention to it.”

At the time of that interview, I suspected that I had ALS, based on weakness in my left leg and a family history with the disease.

For about a year ending in March, I underwent various tests and evaluations. There is no one specific test that provides an ALS diagnosis.

Some of the tests showed irregularities, and I was diagnosed with motor neuron disease.

In late March, Dr. Robert L. Sufit, my neurologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, told my wife and me that I have ALS, based on my symptoms and family history.

At that time, I started to take Rilutek, a medication Sufit said should slow the disease’s progression by 25 percent. I also do daily breathing exercises to increase the amount of air moving in and out of my lungs and to keep my diaphragm strong.

Sufit also treated my mother, Mary F. Rooney. She died from the disease in 2000 at age 71. Her older sister also died from ALS a decade earlier.

Only about 10 percent of ALS cases are considered hereditary.

Genetic testing for me continues. But I know I have an active ALS gene.

About 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS annually. I am one of about 35,000 Americans currently affected.

From the time of diagnosis, the average life expectancy for an ALS patient is between two and five years. But the disease impacts people differently, depending on where it starts.

My disease is considered slowly progressing because it began in my left foot and lower leg. I now walk with an unsteady gait and use a cane to help provide balance.

When my mother was in the final stages of her disease, I wrote an article about a Cook County Circuit Court judge who had ALS.

In April 2000, Judge Stephen R. Yates was unable to walk or speak. But he used a computer to type the words and speak for him.

Yates used the computer while handling cases in the County Division. He died at age 60 in December 2000.

I found writing about Yates to be therapeutic at that time. It’s cathartic for me to write this column now.

Writing this is a way to inform the legal community of my condition. I also want to draw attention to the ongoing work in Chicago and elsewhere to find a cure for the disease.

May is ALS Awareness Month.

The Les Turner ALS Foundation based in Skokie is seeking to heighten awareness for the disease through the media and its annual Tag Days drive. That effort involves volunteers collecting donations at Chicago-area intersections and outside businesses.

The foundation raises money that goes to the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where the foundation helped establish two of the country’s leading ALS research laboratories. The foundation also helps fund a clinic at Northwestern where patients can receive medical treatment and families can participate in counseling and support groups.

My family has a long-standing relationship with the foundation because it supported my mother. The foundation now provides support to me and my family.

I won’t allow ALS to define me. At age 54, I rely on my faith, along with strong support from family and friends.

I want to continue working for as long as possible. I also plan to continue enjoying life with my wife, Meg, and our sons, Ned, Jack and Dan.

We welcome thoughts, prayers and anything that will make me laugh.