The Motyv Podcast · Shayden J. Bertagnolli MS LMFT Men's Mental Health Expert

Finding Meaning in Suffering: A Chat with Erik Thompson, a man battling ALS

·58 min·2 clips

Shaden, the therapist, weeps after Eric's first session—16 years of unexpressed grief surfaces.

This episode features men's mental health therapist Shaden Bertinoli in a raw conversation with his former football coach, Erik Thompson, who is living with ALS. Their connection is deeply personal, as Bertinoli's father also died from the disease, which he learned at age 18. Thompson shares that his ALS progression has been slower than average, spanning nearly seven years, and currently robs him of using his hands or arms for basic tasks like scratching his face. He explains the disease is a neurological condition that progressively paralyzes the body while leaving the mind intact, famously nicknamed Lou Gehrig's disease after the New York Yankees player. Thompson describes redefining toughness from a mindset of solitary grit to learning to ask for help and handle inevitable hardship. He references a coach's insight about the futility of praying for an easier life instead of developing the capacity to endure hard things. A pivotal lesson is prioritizing relationships, which he ties to a century-long Harvard happiness study identifying strong social connections as the primary determinant of life satisfaction. Thompson argues the two most foundational relationships are with oneself and with God, stating that liking yourself enables you to love others better. He reveals an unexpected emotional side effect of ALS: the disease damages the brain's regulation of crying and laughter, making him more emotionally volatile. A surprising insight is that allowing others to serve him has become a source of connection, though he initially found needing help emasculating. Thompson confesses his greatest struggle is fearing the future and mourning moments he will miss, like his children's weddings, which led him to exhaustively research diets and holistic cures. His liberation came from letting go of trying to solve the "unsolvable Rubik's Cube" and learning to trust a higher plan while being present. The tone is profoundly vulnerable, conversational, and therapeutic, punctuated by audible emotion and pauses. The style is an intimate dialogue between two men exploring grief, masculinity, and meaning without pretense. Listeners interested in transformative personal stories, mental health, and philosophical discussions on suffering will find this episode deeply moving. Those uncomfortable with emotional vulnerability or conversations about terminal illness may want to skip it.

As heard by us

An ALS-centered conversation that turns family memory into a reflective call toward gratitude and change.

Shaden Bertinoli and Erik Thompson keep the focus on ALS, family memory, and the pressure of limited time. The conversation works best when it stays close to ordinary life: gratitude, complaint, fear, joy, and the decision to change before the window closes.

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Why you'd press play

You want a conversation about mortality that feels personal and still leaves you with something to do next.

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