Photo: TLC
While everyone fromBen AfflecktoAnna Wintourhas participated in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, the cause has even more meaning to Buddy Valastro – because his mom has Lou Gehrig’s disease.
TheCake Bossstar’s mother, 66, was diagnosed in 2012 with theneurodegenerative diseasethat affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord.
As for how his mother’s doing now, “She’s got good days; she’s got bad days,” Valastro tells PEOPLE, adding that while it’s difficult watching her weaken, there is a silver lining.
“You’ve gotta look at it [glass] half-full – we’ve been blessed,” he says of his mother’s condition, noting she’s now in a wheelchair permanently. “The form of ALS my mom has, it’s not really attacking her breathing or her speech. It’s more of her limbs, so she can’t really walk or move too much.”
Valastro, who began theMama Mary Foundationupon his mother’s diagnosis, says he was “gung-ho” when he found out about the Challenge because he’s seen the debilitating disease’s effects firsthand and wants to raise more money and awareness. (Hedid the Challenge himselflast week and nominated his Carlo’s Bakery staff, as well as all of his social media followers.)
While Mary has her ups and downs, “She’s still my mom,” Valastro, 37, says. “She still yells at me. She still calls me. She still drives me a little crazy. She’ll never stop being my mom.”
Still, the hardest part is watching her suffer.
“I’ve seen the most independent, lively person that I’ve ever met in my life – I mean, she was just like a ball of energy – reduced to not being able to do anything for herself,” Valastro says. “And I think that’s the part that kills her the most because she was the matriarch. Se did so many things for everyone.
“And now everyone has to do for her, which nobody minds doing – it’s just a big pill to swallow.”
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source: people.com
