Emmy Medders with her father Michael.Photo:Emmy Medders/Instagram
Emmy Medders/Instagram
The father ofEmmy Meddersdied Sunday after being diagnosed withALSnearly 5 years ago, the reality stared shared onInstagramlate Tuesday night.
Medders first shared her father Michael’s diagnosis in a2019 Instagram post, when she called him “my first and biggest love. My encourager and my keeper.”
Medders, who appeared with ex-fiancéChase Chrisleyon his fatherTodd’sreality showChrisley Knows Best, wrote on Tuesday that her father Michael had “won the race and now you’re home. 🤍”
“My hero is healed and at rest. My precious Daddy hung up his jersey on Sunday after his difficult battle with ALS. Five years of fighting so bravely but yet so beautifully, never once complaining about the cruel disease or his condition. In difficult moments he was always the comforter. He constantly reminded my family of the things we should be grateful for and how blessed we truly were.”
ALS — short for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — is often called Lou Gehrig’s disease, after the baseball star who famously had the illness. It’s a progressive disease of the nervous system, theMayo Clinic explains, and there is no cure.
“ALS often begins with muscle twitching and weakness in an arm or leg, trouble swallowing or slurred speech. Eventually ALS affects control of the muscles needed to move, speak, eat and breathe,” the Mayo Clinic says.
Two weeks ago, Michael Meddersshared an Instagram selfieof himself in an oxygen mask, with the caption, “I’m going to sleep; love everyone ♥️.”
The replies, however, were relatively upbeat, with his daughter writing, “Get some rest!!! I love you!”
On Tuesday,Medderspraised her father in her Instagram stories, where she posted a photo of their intertwined hands.
Emmy Medders.Emmy Medders/Instagram
“I told him moments before he was welcomed into the arms of Jesus that today was going to be one of the best days of his entire life, and he knew it. I held his hand with tears welled in my eyes, smiling through the pain, reminding him of how beautiful this day was going to be for him,” Medders wrote.
“I told him that we were so happy that at any minute he would be rejoicing in heaven, fully healed, and restored again. He would be able to walk, run, breathe, talk, all of the things that cruel ALS took from him here on earth. No more pain and no more suffering. What a beautiful day it was for him. Selfishly I wanted him to stay, but I am so comforted, knowing he is healed, and we will see him again.”
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source: people.com
