'He's free': Courageous, decadelong battle with ALS ends for Eric Von Schaumburg
Eric Von Schaumburg, a former standout athlete at Schaumburg High School who publicly fought a courageous, decadelong battle with ALS, has died at the age of 39.
Since his 2013 diagnosis, the Hoffman Estates resident demonstrated the toughness acquired from a youth spent competing in various sports to take on the challenges of ALS with bravery and humor.
Von Schaumburg kept a blog detailing his battle with the incurable disease at fightlikeachampion.org/blog through 2016. A March 2022 entry announced he had lost his ability to communicate, but not his fighting spirit.
ALS, also called Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
The resolve Von Schaumburg displayed from the start was all the more impressive because it came with no illusions about what he and his loved ones would experience.
"No one loves life more than me, so I will fight to keep that as normal as possible," he said in the fall of 2013. "I am concerned about the ultimate outcome of ALS ... which is your brain, smell, eyes and senses are all fully functional, but you become a quadriplegic who can't speak. You are essentially trapped inside your own body. That's very scary to think about."
His father, Bob, said Eric kept his fighting spirit throughout. He went to a Chicago White Sox game for the first time in a while two weeks ago for Lou Gehrig Day. His enjoyment of all the earlier Sox and Chicago Bears games he attended, and the company he had over the years, was evident, Bob said.
"He had a very, very wry sense of humor," Bob said of his son. "It's still a shock that the journey is over. He's free and out of pain."
A funeral Mass and burial occurred Wednesday morning. A Celebration of Life is scheduled to take place from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 22, at Chandler's Restaurant in the Schaumburg Golf Club, 401 N. Roselle Road in Schaumburg.
"He had an impact on a lot of people," Bob said. "This whole ordeal renewed my faith in humanity."
He cited the generosity of all who contributed to Eric's care over the years, the unwavering loyalty of Mesirow Financial - where Eric was promoted to vice president just before his diagnosis - and the love Eric's young nephews and nieces demonstrated for their disabled uncle.
Bob especially was moved by his wife, Eric's mother Debbe, recently telling their son she had been selfish in wanting him to stay and that he could let go of the struggles he was enduring on her behalf.
Von Schaumburg was a member of the Schaumburg High football team that played for the Class 6A state title in 1999, then returned the next year to help lead the team to an undefeated regular season.
A Tribute Wall to which family and friends can contribute is on the website of Morizzo Funeral Home in Hoffman Estates, morizzofuneralhome.com.
Eric's survivors also include his sister, brother, their spouses and children.