(InvestigateTV) — There’s no amount of training, or strength, or padding, to soften certain blows life has in store. A former Arizona State University gymnast is facing a twist he never saw coming.
“It’s the worst news you could ever hear,” says Rob Survick. “I wish I had cancer instead. That’s how crazy a diagnosis it is. You really mourn your own death kind of, at the beginning of it.”
Survick was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2020. The Valley gymnastics coach says that with the encouragement of those around him, he decided to get back to living life. And most of his life has been spent at Aspire Kids Sports Center in Chandler.
“He just says, ‘I got to get in,’” says Aspire owner and head coach of the Arizona State University men’s club gymnastics team, Scott Barclay. “‘Every day, I got to get in, I’m going to be there.’”
“Everybody in the gym is impacted by him. Every single person,” Rachel Tapia, who works at Aspire and is the booster club president for the Junior Sun Devils team, said.
Survick is battling a losing fight against ALS. He no longer has control over his arms or legs.
“It’s just kind of always getting a little bit worse and we’re always trying to figure out ways to make things better for him and more comfortable for him, so that he can continue to come into the gym,” says Junior Sun Devils head coach Brian Kern. “This is what he lives for.”
The 47-year-old is losing his voice, too. So at practice, he sits in one of two old recliners and talks through a headset, which is connected to a speaker that’s attached to a mannequin. The mannequin is even outfitted with a picture of Survick’s face.
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