By KELSEY SWANEKAMP
Buffalo Law Journal

At 10 years old, Jack Hains knew he wanted to be a lawyer.

He remembers going to a meeting with his parents when they bought a small business and thinking, "Wow, being a lawyer seems really interesting."

Until recently, Hains practiced intellectual-property and immigration law at Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria LLP. "I finally had the job I really always wanted," he said.

But in February, the 59-year-old lawyer was diagnosed with ALS - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. ALS causes the nerve cells that stimulate muscles to die, which often leads to paralysis and death.

By late May, the ALS had progressed enough that Hains was forced to leave his practice. While he still walks easily and energetically, he speaks with visible difficulty and great concentration. Licking his lips frequently as he searches for the right words, Hains appears comfortable as he sits across a conference-room table from a reporter, his wife by his side. His dark hair is thin, and his face is crisscrossed with laugh lines.

"He would still work, but he can't with his voice," Dr. Theresa Stephan Hains, a physician who works as director of the Weigel Health Center at Buffalo State College, says of her husband.

"I'm going to be silent," Hains says. "And for a lawyer, that's very hard. Lawyers are paid to communicate, and I'm going to be shut down from that."

"You're so social, and you're so witty," Theresa Hains notes, to her husband. "And that must be really hard."

She turns back toward the reporter and adds, grinning with pride, "He's very funny - he doesn't prepare his lines."

After spending several years on active duty with the U.S. Navy, Hains came to Buffalo in 1980 to attend the University at Buffalo Law School. But he didn't plan to stay in Western New York.

"Buffalo didn't have the best reputation, so he leaned over to the woman next to him on the first day of class and said, ‘I kept my car running in the parking lot, and the day I graduate, I'm driving out of here,' " Theresa says.

"Thirty years later -- " Hains begins, "- and he's still here," Theresa says, completing her husband's thought.

On June 24, the Hainses were the guests of honor at the second annual Dancin' in the Rain gala held by the Margaret Roblin Fund.

"It was a wonderful tribute to my husband," Theresa says. "He knew almost everyone there, and that meant they were there to honor him and their friendship."

Paul Cambria, a partner at Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria LLP, spoke at the event as its honorary chairman. His remarks signified a highlight for Hains.

"When you measure all the good that's happened, he is a lucky man," Cambria said.

The benefit attracted about 350 people and raised nearly $70,000 for ALS research, said Chris Pulinski, the co-founder of the Roblin Fund. All of the money raised through the event goes directly to the ALS Therapy Development Institute, a nonprofit biotechnology company.

Despite the good memories from the night, the gala reminded Hains how quickly ALS can progress.

"Last year, the benefit was focused on a woman named Margaret Roblin who was really active in the arts community. The benefit was in June. She died in October," Hains said. "The hardest part was knowing that sooner rather than later, I'm going to die."

Theresa Hains said that the couple's three children - Adam, 20, Daniel, 19 and Katie, 17 - are trying to cope with their father's illness.

"I don't think teenagers should be living with a fatal illness in their parent," she said.

Linda Smith, a close friend of Hains, said that the family was "pulling together."

Smith, who met Hains when he was the roommate of her fiancé in college, said that Jack continues to "drink in life."

"He's lived more lifetimes than most people do in 85 years. He's taken advantage of every opportunity," she said.

And Hains doesn't plan to stop doing that now. In addition to studying Islam and Hinduism, he has his sights set on having visited all 50 states in his lifetime. The last on his list is North Dakota, and his family has planned a trip there for July.

"He wants to spend time with all the people he loves and cares for," said Smith.

While he doesn't seem to dwell on it, Hains speaks frankly about the progression of his ALS. He figures he will soon lose the ability to speak, but doesn't know what else to expect because ALS progresses at different rates in different people.

"ALS is like having a stroke in freeze-frame time," he said. "One friend of mine said, ‘Well, the only advantage is you didn't die a horrible, sudden death.' And I said, ‘I'm doing that. Just a little at a time.' "

Smith said her friend can find humor - and remain positive - in any situation.

"I'd ask him how he's doing," she said, "and he'd wave his arms around and say, ‘All things considered, I'm doing pretty good.' "