CLEVELAND — Gia Polo described her dad as a “very kind man.” Speaking about her father brought up a lot of emotions for her, because he passed away in November 2022 after being diagnosed with ALS in May 2021.

What You Need To Know

  • May is ALS Awareness Month and Gia Polo is speaking out on the fight against the terminal disease that killed her father in November 2022

  • The CDC says that over 5,000 Americans get diagnosed with ALS each year and that the average lifespan of someone with ALS is two to five years
  • Polo's dad passed away after a year-and-a-half fight with the disease

  • Polo now tells her father's story, after being his caretaker through most of his fight against the disease

“It turned our lives upside down, but more importantly, it turned his life upside down,” she said. 

The CDC said that over 5,000 Americans get diagnosed with ALS each year. The average lifespan is two to five years. Carl, Gia’s father, died just a year and a half after his diagnosis. One year after his diagnosis, Gia uprooted her life and moved home to help him.

“When he got his feeding tube surgery, he was on a breathing apparatus, he wasn’t able to walk without assistance, he wasn’t able to eat without assistance, and that’s when I quit my job in DC and moved home to take care of him,” she said.

She said becoming his primary caretaker, instead of him being the one to take care of her, was “life shattering”.

“Every life function we had to do for him and it’s very humbling, but I think the saddest part was ALS doesn’t rob you of your mental capacity at all. So, my dad lost all physical function, as do most people do with ALS, however, from a cognitive perspective he was still our father and I think that’s what made it really hard having to assume that role of daughter turned caregiver,” she said.

Polo has worked with organizations such as “I am ALS,” has given a speech on the National Mall in Washington and has worked on panels to help educate medical students about the disease.

“Before my dad was diagnosed, I didn’t know much about ALS. I knew that it was terminal, I knew it was incurable, but I didn’t know the intricacies of it and I didn’t know how devastating it was. I think that the more we talk about it and the more we get in front of it, the more we’re going to realize how prevalent it is,” she said.

Polo expressed that awareness can help lead to clinical research, funding and more and has hopes that ALS Awareness Month will bring more attention to the disease.