34 PAGE I It’s easy to stay positive and motivated when everything is going well. But what about when your work — or your life — brings you up against problems that appear unsolvable? We talked to five Oregon State community members from across the generations who are tackling challenges ranging from disease to political polarization to eroding coastlines.What’s the secret to how they keep going? Here’s what they said. TRUST THAT YOU’RE GETTING CLOSER Joe Beckman has spent his life trying to solve a deadly puzzle: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease), a debilitating disease of the nervous system. “The problem is much harder than I thought it would be,” said Beckman, a principal investigator at OSU’s Linus Pauling Institute (LPI) and global leader in the study of neurodegeneration. “I didn’t think I’d have nothing substantial to show patients in 30 years,” he said, “but I don’t really let it get me down.” He’s too certain that answers are out there. No existing ALS therapy extends human life more than a few months. Each year, more than 20,000 people in the U.S. die from ALS, and it can be hereditary. For patients and their families, answers ↖ Joe Beckman has spent much of his life trying tofindacurefor ALS, a deadly disease of the nervous system.
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