Mark Sepe, 43, Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Mode of Expression: DynaWrite and DynaVox DV4

Mark Sepe makes the best of whatever life brings his way. His positive outlook carried him through some stormy situations long before he and his family became Hurricane Katrina survivors.

After high school, Mark launched a career in the boating industry as a deckhand along the Mississippi Sound in Biloxi, near Ocean Springs, Mississippi, where he grew up, and proudly earned his captain's license. At 24, he joined the U.S. Air Force, seeking a better way to support a family. He and wife Lynn lived in Alaska for three years. They also endured frequent separations, the toughest being from 1999 to 2000 when Mark was stationed in Korea. After that, he took an assignment in Walton Beach, Florida, where Lynn joined him along with their son Matthew and daughter Kristan.

Throughout Mark's 15 years in the military, coming home meant being with loved ones and doing what he loved. He ran a charter boat service in Mississippi and Florida, hoping that the sideline would someday become his full-time job.

In the fall of 2001, friends and relatives noticed a change in Mark's speech, which increasingly gave the impression that he was intoxicated though he is not a drinker. During his annual checkup, Mark described his symptoms to the doctor, who referred him to a neurologist. In February 2002, Mark learned that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the progressive neurological condition that cut short his military career. Also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS frequently affects the muscles involved in producing speech and swallowing. People with ALS often experience general physical weakness and a rapid loss of functions such as mobility and manual dexterity. While their average life expectancy is three years after the onset of symptoms, many people with the condition live longer.

As always, Mark, lives with the attitude of a survivor, crediting his faith and family for helping him keep his struggles in perspective. Lynn and the children, ages 18 and 16, assist him with personal care, drive him places, and help him to and from his wheelchair. Tangible tools that simplify his life include the DynaWrite he adopted as his voice in 2003 because his speech was virtually unintelligible to all but those closest to him. Mark obtained the keyboard-based communication device after a speech-language assessment at the VA Gulf Coast Vets Health Care System in Biloxi, where he receives a range of therapies and services.

A VA-sponsored grant allowed Mark and his family to build and move into a wheelchair-accessible house in Ocean Springs on Memorial Day weekend 2005. When Katrina hit three months later, destroying the home that had promised Mark comfort for the rest of his life, the Sepes evacuated, grabbing the DynaWrite to ensure that he would have a reliable voice through the ordeal. When they returned to the site a few days later, they found to their dismay that the mount that attaches the device to his wheelchair had corroded beyond repair.

A VA-sponsored grant allowed Mark and his family to build and move into a wheelchair-accessible house in Ocean Springs on Memorial Day weekend 2005. When Katrina hit three months later, destroying the home that had promised Mark comfort for the rest of his life, the Sepes evacuated, grabbing the DynaWrite to ensure that he would have a reliable voice through the ordeal. When they returned to the site a few days later, they found to their dismay that the mount that attaches the device to his wheelchair had corroded beyond repair.

Like others uprooted by Katrina, the Sepes graciously accepted the generosity of donors and volunteers from around the country to meet basic needs while starting over. They moved with their children into an apartment in the home of Mark's parents, who live three miles away in a neighborhood undisturbed by the hurricane.

Despite their losses, the Sepes greeted 2006 in high spirits, celebrating news that the federal Small Business Administration approved a loan to rebuild their home. While Mark would have liked to actively participate in its construction, he is grateful to all who performed the work, including friends from First Baptist and Belle Fountain Baptist churches in Ocean Springs and volunteers from Summit Baptist Church in Loganville, Georgia, where Lynn's sister is a member.

More good news came when DynaVox Technologies replaced the wheelchair mount for the DynaWrite free of charge so that Mark could again express himself with ease, accessing the device with a mouth stick instead of the switch he used previously because of his declining dexterity. Mark eventually tried a DynaVox DV4, that he can access using a head mouse that he controls with his head movements. As Mark makes the transition to the DV4, he is downloading previously stored messages from the DynaWrite to his new device.

Mark and his family feel blessed as they settle into their new home. The calm presence and kindness that Mark and Lynn radiate inspire all who meet them. Using the DynaWrite, Mark delivered a personal testimony at First Baptist of how faith sees them through each day. A philosophical message that he stored on the device and plans to program into the DV4 tells how he copes so well.

"Life is only temporary," he says. "We need to focus on eternity."