At 37, Dave Hall started to notice subtle physical changes that would lead to an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) diagnosis.
ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that damages motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord.
As these nerve cells deteriorate, muscles weaken, leading to difficulty speaking, swallowing and breathing.
While about five to 10 percent of cases are inherited, the exact cause remains unclear, as life expectancy is around two to five years after symptom onset.
It comes after Grey’s Anatomy star Eric Dane passed away earlier this year, aged 53, just 10 months after he announced his ALS diagnosis.
The symptom Dave first noticed
The Oklahoma father of two said the first warning sign was after a casual game of golf.
Dave said on his YouTube channel Team Dave Hall that his grip suddenly was weaker, and his swing felt a little off.
“I was out golfing and I started noticing something with my swing was a little off. I couldn’t really grip the club like I used to. I was terrible. Don’t let me build a facade that I was good at golf. This was like a short pastime,” he said.
“But I could blame it on this grip forever. So I started feeling it about September of 2023, which is a year and a month before the diagnosis. And it just started with the grip in my hands.”
Dave noticed something was off again when he was playing poker with his friends and his ‘hands seized up’.
Then after months of extensive nerve testing and evaluations, a specialist confirmed the devastating diagnosis in October 2024.
“With ALS, with that diagnosis, they’re ruling out everything else before they say this because they don’t want to say it’s that,” he said.