A life of inspiration

Lake Oswego’s Jeff Young continues his 24-year fight with ALS and achieves a long-time goal of watching his daughter Priya graduate from high school

By Matthew Sherman

The Lake Oswego Review, Jun 14, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

Vern Uyetake / The Lake Oswego Review

Jeff Young reflects on his life while being interviewed for this article.

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Jeff Young has been told he has less than five years to live for more than two decades now. The Lake Oswego resident was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in October of 1983. The neurological disorder in which the nervous system slowly shuts down, crippling one’s physical abilities, generally takes three to five years to claim its victims.

But Young has always been a bit out of the ordinary. Before the disease took hold of his body, he pursued each new passion that came into his life with an equal amount of vigor.

Young played college football at Southern Oregon State College, he pursued a career as a rock star, learning the guitar and collaborating with his friend Jeff Warner, the guitarist for the band Black ‘N Blue.

And, when ALS made it nearly impossible for Young to hold on to his guitar pick, he turned to writing, moving to Los Angeles and completing a full-length screenplay.

That’s enough to fill up three lives worth of experiences, all accomplished by Young before the age of 30.

But what would become the biggest passion in Young’s life had only just begun. He married his wife, who now lives in West Linn, in January of 1989. Then, in August of that same year, Priya Young was born, changing her father’s life forever.

Young and his wife divorced in 1990 and he became a single father. Not only did raising his baby daughter instantly become his top priority, he quickly set a new goal for himself. He wanted to be around to see Priya graduate from high school.

“Most people probably assume that they will be there when their kids graduate. But when she was born it was two or three years after I was supposed to be dead,” Young said.

At the time, it seemed like a lofty, if not impossible aspiration. But, as the years went on, Young continued to battle his disease, eventually being confined to a wheelchair permanently when Priya was a child.

Still, ALS took its toll at a much slower than normal pace. Young watched his daughter mature and develop a passion for writing and film, similar to his own.

As Priya continued through high school, Young’s goal started to seem more and more likely and, given his level of determination and the way he has handled his illness for half of his life, it seemed inevitable.

And, last Thursday, it happened. Young had a front-row seat at Priya’s graduation from Lake Oswego High School, his alma mater from 27 years earlier.

“It was a typical ceremony but it was surreal to see my girl up there. It seemed like just yesterday when I brought her home from the hospital,” Young said.

Young was an active member of Lake Oswego’s football team, playing fullback and linebacker in the late 1970s.

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