Stephen Heywood (April 13, 1969 – November 26, 2006) was an American builder and self-taught

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, specializing in the renovation of old houses. He was diagnosed with

ALS Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

in 1998, at the age of 29. He was the subject of '' His Brother's Keeper: A Story from the Edge of Medicine'', written by the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning author

Jonathan Weiner Jonathan Weiner (born November 26, 1953) is an American writer of nonfiction books based on his biological observations, focusing particularly on evolution in the Galápagos Islands, genetics, and the environment. His latest book is ''Long for ...

, and the documentary film '' So Much So Fast'', which premiered at the 2006

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. His brothers James Heywood and Benjamin Heywood are co-founders of a website for patients with ALS and other life-changing illnesses,

PatientsLikeMe PatientsLikeMe (PLM) is an integrated community, health management, and real-world data platform. The platform currently has over 830,000 members who are dealing with more than 2,900 conditions, such as ALS, MS, and epilepsy. Data generated by p ...

; his father is the engineering professor John B. Heywood. Heywood lived in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located roughly west of Downtown Boston, and comprises a patchwork of thirteen villages. The city borders Boston to the northeast and southeast (via the neighborhoods of ...

, with his wife and son until his death at age 37 from an accidentally detached respirator in November 2006.

References

External links

So Much So Fast
'' Frontline''
PatientsLikeMe.com
a website for patients with ALS and other life-altering conditions, set up by Stephen's brothers Jamie and Ben Heywood 1969 births 2006 deaths Deaths from motor neuron disease in Massachusetts People from Newton, Massachusetts Place of birth missing Place of death missing {{US-med-bio-stub