Extra Hands For ALS

Hit With Disease Jack Orchard Found Solution To Help Others

(CBS)  Orchard says, "When the doctor said there was nothing I could do, I thought, 'You wanna bet?'"

Instead of spending the rest of his days watching himself die, Orchard had an idea that would help ALS patients everywhere.

In a way, ALS cripples the families, too, because ALS victims need constant care, leaving little time for anything else.

Teresa Ribble, a wife of an ALS victim, says, "I get angry because it's just nonstop. It's: 'I need this; I need this; I need this,' which he does."

Ribble adds, "Honestly, I do good to open my mail and pay my bills on time every week, honest to God."

Orchard says he saw that families really needed an extra set of hands, and a great idea was born.

Jack created Extra Hands for ALS. His student volunteers visit ALS families every week to do whatever's needed.

Tetzlaff says, "The whole idea just blossomed."

Ribble says, "They're just awesome. They accomplish more in three hours than I could in a weekend. I can tell you that."

The families get the help they desperately need, and the kids get the chance to make a huge difference in someone's life.

Volunteer Zach Selke says, "I do enjoy it. I think it's important for everyone to give their time. I mean, why not? Instead of watching two hours of TV, I'm helping out a family who needs it.

Orchard is hopeful that his student volunteers will help raise awareness that might someday lead to a cure.

"They are like angels," Ribble says, "It's just amazing that they will come out here and do that for us."

For his work with Extra Hands, Orchard was a finalist in the Volvo For Life Awards, with Tetzlaff, as always, close by his side.

Tetzlaff says, "One of the strangest things is that our marriage has really been like a threesome, Jack and me and ALS. And I think it would have been a lot more fun, just the two of us.

"It's hard to say what I miss. You just kind of take life for what it brings you and live it."

Jack Orchard knows only too well what the days ahead will bring. But on awards night in March, Orchard's face lit up New York's Times Square: the symbol of an idea that will live long after he is gone.