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For official press, interview requests, etc, please contact the Athletic Director Jim Ketcham at Jim.Ketcham@sfuhs.org or via phone at (415) 447-3114.
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Dear Jim,
I watched the amazing video of Ms. Holland running her race to victory this morning on GMA for her team mates & you. She spoke very highly of you & talked about your honesty. First let me congratulate you & your team.
The purpose of this email is to ask if you know of any books that will help one’s family or someone that has been diagnosed with ALS? My 35 year old brother who was a very healthy, athletic, Police Officer, husband & father of 3 beautiful girls has been recently diagnosed with ALS. For some time we didn’t know what was wrong with him. It has taken a while to finally get a diagnosis. He currently walks with a walker to get around, gets very tired easy, & gets tremmors all the time. It seems that it is progressing very rapidly. Our family, especially our mother is having a really hard time dealing/understanding what to do or how to handle the situation. I was hoping that you can help me understand what he is feeling & going through & maybe you may know of a book that will be helpful. He is very sad to see us upset & he wants us to treat him as if he’s fine. He doesn’t want us to help him much & he spends a lot of time sleeping. I don’t know if this is his way of dealing with it or just wanting to seclude himself from everyone.
I just wish we could give him some kind of hope. Also, do you know of any foundation that could help? Thank you for your time.
Many Blessings,
Catrina
Jim,
Hello my name is Curtis Collicott and I am a football coach at Willits High School in northern Ca. I saw your story on the state bowl broadcast. It is very touching and made me feel the need to share our story with you as well.
My lovely wife Michele is 38 years old and spent a great deal of time in great pain and in a state of paralysis of her left hand. She went undiagnosed for close to 3 years with doctors telling her she had everything from ms through transverse mylitis. She was put on many medications to in an attempt to alleviate her pain. Hard neurological medications like neurontion and when they showed no effect they gave her extra large bottles of Percocet. Finally when none of that helped she was given oxyconton.
She went to every wing of UCSF and Stanford and NOONE could tell her what was wrong with her. They stuck probes in her arm and shocked her muscles to see if they still worked befor they finnaly gave up and sent her to the pain management wing for more drugs. In the end when the doctors felt they had exhausted all avenues told her that SHE was crazy and it was “psychosomatic”.
Through all of the years of this we were doing our own symptom matching. We had found some information on lyme disease. She had already been tested with a few other methods but came up negative. It was the only thing that matched ALL of her symptoms though. As it turned out Lyme is very elusive. Many people will go their entire life being treated for another ailment and never get better. Igenex labs in Palo Alto is the best and most reliable test for Lyme available. And CALDA is a great resource to start your research for symptoms.
Coach I guess the reason I felt I needed to write you is that YOU are a cross country coach in northern California and you are at an elevated risk to contract the disease. This is a treatable condition that is commonly mis diagnosed as ALS. You need to make sure you have been tested through IGENEX and find out if you may have Lyme.
My wife is now doing much better but still has her ups and downs. She has regained 85% usage of her left hand (and oddly enough Lyme prefers to show itself on the left side, got any of those prevalent on the left side?). She has had Lyme for over 16 years as my son has Lyme which is believed to have been contracted in the womb.
Coach I don’t know you but will help in any way I can. Please get yourself checked. Its money well spent.
Sincerely,
Coach Curtis Collicott
Jim:
I was on the track team with you at Riordan High School. My name is Bill Olivari.
Last night I was watching the news and a story came on about a track coach in San Francisco named Jim Tracy. I thought what are the odds and that this must be the same Jim Tracy I know. I did some research and have read stories about you and your cross country teams. I have also pulled out my yearbooks and took a trip down memory lane.
I also remember hearing a story a couple of weeks ago about a runner crawling across the finish line for her coach. At the time I didn’t realize the story was also about you, but I understand her desire to finish the race for you.
At Riordan High School I was glad that you were a long distance runner and that I was a sprinter.
Now my thoughts and prayers are with you.
Regards,
Bill
Jim,
I was fortunate to see the show this morning on ESPN’s outside the lines, I was moved yourself and what’ve you’ve been through alone what your team did fo you and themselves. Having been a former cross country runner, Ohio State Champion (1974) and 2-time NCAA all-american (1977 & 1978) I can relate to the suffering, dedication and motivation that runners go through. It’s a “thankless athletic activity” that is not recognized by many people, fortunately it’s self satisfaction and inner peace to those that compete. I applaud you for your continued dedication and the touching of the young youth of today which is lost at times, I also applaud your team for their efforts and support of the one person that believes in them – you!
Keep up the great success as I noted your team all returns next year!
Sincerely,
Michael Becraft
MorningView, KY
HI Jim- My husband and I saw the story re: you and your team on ESPN this morn. I thought right away of contacting yout to let you know that you should be tested for Lyme disease by Igenex Labs in Palo Alto ASAP. I was so glad to see that Coach Curtis Collicott (above) had already sent you info on Lyme which can be very often misdiagnosed as ALS. In my case and thousands of others it was diagnosed as Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue. On CALDA’s site you can look for a Dr that specializes in Lyme and find info on the proper lab testing which most Doctor’s do not use. I wont be surprised at all if that is what you have. I pray that is it as Lyme is treatable when you find the right Dr. that specializes in treating it. There are many amazing Lyme specialists in your area.
Blessings,
Lauren
Jim: Congratulations on your impressive victory; you should be proud of your girls and of the program you have built. I am writing on behalf of my wife, a life long runner who is 47 years old. She stopped running 1 year ago due to her left foot slapping the ground in exactly the same manner as you describe in your video interview. Herleft foot now won’t cooperate while walking. The foot slap began 5 years ago and progressed to this point. She has seen 7 doctors here in Northeast Ohio including several at the Cleveland Clinic. We are no closer to a diagnosis. Would you be willing to share your insights with her? Your article on ESPN really hit home because you are the first person to have described a symptom similar to hers. Good luck to you; we hope your good days outnumber your bad.
Jim
Dean and Ronan and I saw you on the news. It’s been a long time since college and the county fairs. It was great to hear about your accomplishments and we’re so sorry to hear about your health. I’d like to get in touch.
Shelly