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CONNECTICUT MOVERS JUNE 7, 2021 ■ 3

Hartford Attorney Leads by Example

Despite ALS Diagnosis

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

It’s been nearly a year since she was diagnosed
with ALS, but Locke Lord Hartford office associate
Alexandra Cavaliere recently sent a note to every-
one at the Am Law 100 firm to raise awareness about
the terminal disease, and to share her experience of
practicing with ALS.
Cavaliere’s note was timely since Wednesday is
Major League Baseball’s inaugural Lou Gehrig Day.
The league is recognizing the former New York Yan-
kee who quit baseball in 1939 after he was diagnosed
with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is also
known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Cavaliere, who joined Locke Lord in 2017, said
in an interview that she is open about her diagnosis
because she wants to show that lawyers in her situa-
tion, or with other disabilities, can continue to work.
“We go on day to day, and we really don’t think
about what other people are dealing with. I would Alexandra Cavaliere, an associate with Locke Lord in
love to see more people be out with what they strug- Hartford, Connecticut. Courtesy photo
gle with,” she said. But, in July 2020, doctors diagnosed her with
Cavaliere sent the note to her colleagues in May, ALS based on the results of an electromyogram,
which is ALS Awareness Month, to tell them about which tests how well the nerves conduct electrical
her diagnosis at age 28 and to show them that ALS is
more than just the Ice Bucket Challenge, a popular signals.
fundraiser for The ALS Association in 2014. It was two months before her wedding.
As Cavaliere wrote, she noticed in August 2019 Now, nearly two years after the onset of symp-
that her speech was starting to slur, and she de- toms, Cavaliere wrote, she has trouble walking long
scribed a feeling of marbles in her mouth. While distances and relies on a walker outside the house.
others, including her fiancé, didn’t notice a change While she can make herself understood while talk-
in her speech, she consulted with a neurologist who ing, she talks slowly and sometimes is out of breath,
ordered an MRI, which came back normal. How- adding that at some point she will need to use a
ever, she also started noticing stiffness in her left leg wheelchair and rely on assistive technology to help
and she unexpectedly fell at home. her type and speak.
At Christmas that year, a nurse friend urged her to “But for now, I work full time,” she wrote. “I drive,
seek a second opinion, so Cavaliere went to a second I swim and do physical therapy, I run errands, and
neurologist in January 2020, who preliminarily di- I visit family and friends. I help take care of our two
agnosed “progressive neuromuscular disorder.” She dogs and two cats (and, recently, six cats I fostered
then found herself living a “bizarre medical limbo” through a local rescue).”
over the next several months. ■ Continued on PAGE 4

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