My first job out of school was writing code at ALS.net. It was started by Jamie, a mechanical engineer to find a cure for his brother Stephen, who had just bee

My first job out of school was writing code at ALS.net. It was started by Jamie, a mechanical engineer to find a cure for his brother Stephen, who had just been diagnosed (and was eventually turned into a movie: http://www.westcityfilms.com/smsf.html http://www.westcityfilms.com/smsf.html). The horrible thing about ALS is that your body deteriorates, while your mind stays 100% fine. Stephen was physically in pretty rough shape by the time I started. He loved playing video games with his brothers, so Jamie made a little mouse-like device for Stephen that also allowed him to mimic keypresses. Once a week, we'd all hop online and play Diablo together. It was interesting getting to know Stephen this way - he was barely able to talk when I first met him, but he could type using Jamie's device. (Aside: Ben, the third brother, now runs PatientsLikeMe.com, a support community for people with diseases like ALS).