ood Afternoon,
My name is Laurie Schaalma, and I would like to share with you my husband’s story.
Joshua Schaalma joined the Marine Corps in June 2001; he attended boot camp at Parris Island
SC. He has been on three deployments, more work ups and time away from his family that I can count.
He became a Drill Instructor for 1st Battalion Alpha company in October of 2013. He also was apart of
Support Battalion for one year while I went through radiation therapy for cervical cancer. Josh completed
four or five cycles with Alpha Company during his tour that ended in 2016.

In 2021 while on deployment on the Queen Elizabeth, Josh started to notice that he was having
trouble picking up his right foot sometimes and was experiencing some sciatica pain. At one point on the
ship, his knees gave out and he fell down a couple stairs. Once he was back and saw the squadron doctor
in Yuma AZ, they diagnosed him with sciatica with right foot drop. Josh knew that this was going to impact
his ability to do PFT/CFT and was affecting how he walked every day. So, he put in for retirement, he went
on terminal leave in March 2023 and started to notice his left foot was giving him trouble and he started
to have more frequent falls at home. Josh retired on June 30, 2023. We decided to move back here to
Havelock NC, where he continued his care with the Naval Brach Clinic on Cherry Point, and they agreed
with the sciatica with foot drop diagnosis but also it was bilateral foot drop. The doc decided to send him
to a neurosurgeon who performed an EMG test. This test showed that Josh had a motor neuron disease.
They quickly sent us to the Duke ALS clinic in Durham NC, where in January 2024 Josh was diagnosed
with advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This is a terminal disease. Since January 2024, Josh
has become wheelchair and hospital bed bound. He uses an assisted ventilator to breathe mostly at
night but a lot more during the day here lately. He uses AFO’s (Ankle-Foot Orthosis) on his legs to have
better stability but is unable to be mobile by himself. His speech is greatly affected as well.

At our most recent visit to the Durham VA prosthetics department, they are going to provide Josh
with an Premobil M5 wheelchair. This will allow him better mobility and help him have more
independence. However, we will be needing an wheelchair accessible vehicle for this wheelchair to
transport him in it since it is too heavy for the lift on my car which we currently use for his current
wheelchair. My sister has so graciously started a GoFundMe to help with the expenses of this vehicle. We
are blessed that the VA is covering everything they can for Josh, and they do offer a grant to go towards
the cost of this type of vehicle. But there are still some out-of-pocket expenses that we will have to cover.
At this time, we would not be able to finance the vehicle because we are trying to buy the current home
we are renting and working on our credit to get a VA loan. My husband is humble man, and he would go
without before asking anyone for assistance. But I want to do everything in my power to give him the best
quality of life because to me, he has earned that. Thank you for your time, and support

Respectfully,

Laurie Schaalma