Sitting on a patio chair in the tranquility of his backyard, Tony Proudfoot hammers away on a portable keyboard.
The retired CFL all-star finishes typing a sentence and taps the grey "Speak" button. It triggers a robot-like voice that reads his words aloud.
This is the only way Proudfoot can converse.
It's been more than three years since Proudfoot was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the incurable, degenerative illness more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
ALS has eroded Proudfoot's health to the point where he can no longer speak. He is now forced to eat through a feeding tube connected to a hole near his belly button.
Despite these challenges, something else occupies his mind.
Breathing.
"It is funny, once you need to struggle to breathe, there are not many other things that take up your thoughts," said Proudfoot, 60, who needed a tracheotomy to open up a breathing hole in his throat.
"I have lost my ability to talk and swallow and now this disease is spreading to my lungs, which means I don't have long to live."
ALS attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord and strikes two in 100,000 people.
Nearly 3,000 Canadians live with the disease and 80 per cent of them will die two to five years after diagnosis.
What causes Lou Gehrig's disease remains a mystery. But a small body of research suggests that head injuries in athletes could be a contributing factor to ALS or a similar disease.
A recent U.S. study of the brains and spinal cords of two NFL players and a boxer further established the link.
The research, released this month, showed that repetitive brain trauma was a likely cause for a disease similar to - but not exactly the same as - ALS.
Proudfoot, one of nine former CFL players to come down with ALS, suspects the countless helmet-to-helmet collisions during his football career are connected to his diagnosis.
He was interviewed on HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel," the U.S. TV show that was first to report on the study.
Proudfoot is encouraged by evidence in the research, which was led by Boston University's Dr. Ann McKee, but hopes broader investigations will follow.
"They don't really know what causes this disease, even though it has been around for 150 years," said the former defensive back, who played 12 CFL seasons for the Montreal Alouettes and B.C. Lions.
"With the current status of . . . research, it will be another 100 years before they figure this disease out."
That's what Proudfoot has been trying to change.
The ex-sportscaster and college professor has made his struggle a public one. His goal is to raise awareness about the fatal disease and attract much-needed cash for research.
To date, the Tony Proudfoot Fund has raised $450,000 for the ALS Society of Quebec and three research projects. He says it may eventually bankroll two more.
Proudfoot's doctor, Dr. Angela Genge, says research into the disease is grossly underfunded.
"Even if you take into account the number of people developing the disease, our funding is a fraction of what everyone else has," said Genge, director of the ALS clinic at the Montreal Neurological Institute.
"People don't appreciate how common ALS is because people always die. If they looked at just the frequency at which people developed it, they would be far more worried about this disease."
Genge is overseeing a research project to find out how many high-level athletes in collision sports have been diagnosed with ALS.
She says nine out of about 15,000 all-time CFL players have come down with the disease - including a new diagnosis in the last year.
One of those players was Larry Uteck, Proudfoot's Alouettes teammate and roommate on the road. Uteck died from ALS seven years ago.
Genge estimates that a football player's chances of getting ALS are about seven times higher than someone in the general population.
McKee's findings are another step forward, she added.
"There's good evidence for a remote head trauma, particularly in athletes, as being a risk factor for the development of ALS - and I think that's a very important finding," Genge said of the study, published in September's issue of the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology.
Back at Proudfoot's home in suburban Montreal, he spends much of his time reading in his backyard, which has a view of Lac St-Louis.
A former assistant coach with the Alouettes, Proudfoot continues to follow the team with great interest. He's in regular contact with head coach Marc Trestman, and he isn't shy to offer his "two cents."
"They are still finding their focus," he said of the defending Grey Cup champs.
"At times they are brilliant and (at) others they show a lack of focus."
Proudfoot walks around the house with relative ease, but cannot go further than 50 metres before he needs to rest.
At night, his throat is hooked up to a ventilator, a unit he also uses for a few hours during the day.
He's spending more and more of his time connected to the machine.
"There will be a time in the not too distant future that I will be forced on the ventilator full time," said Proudfoot, a married father of three.
Proudfoot has candidly chronicled his battle by writing an annual, Christmastime update in a Montreal newspaper.
In May, he wrote a second article because the disease is progressing so quickly that he didn't want to wait until the end of the year.
"I hope to write one this Christmas," he said.