Lynne and Augie Nieto are co-chairs of the ALS division of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Through Augie’s Quest, they have helped raise more than $26 million for ALS research. Photo courtesy of MDA.

No wonder Augie Nieto is so happy these days. He gets to have beer, wine and medicinal marijuana.

The medicinal marijuana helps Augie sleep at night. As for the beer and wine, that goes through a feeding tube straight into his stomach, but not before a taste test.

“I put great wine in my mouth and then spit it out,” Augie says. “I then put box wine in my belly! It is a concept called selective opulence!”

Six years after he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, Augie’s mind—and his spirit—are still intact.

“I am having a blast!” Augie says, and by “says,” Augie actually is talking through a TypeRight software program created by DynaVox. By moving his socked feet on a ball at the base of his chair, Augie can type up to 40 words a minute, which is faster than some people can type with two able hands. He also has an eye-tracking device to help him communicate, along with an iPhone attached to his wheelchair to give him Internet access.

“I have a transformed life,” Augie says. “Who could ever imagine a life where you could not move your body, can’t eat or drink, breathe on your own, yet I have never been busier and more fulfilled.”

Augie, who founded Life Fitness and introduced the Lifecycle exercise bike to the health club world, remains active as the chairman of Octane Fitness. He met with some of the Octane Fitness staff in December at the Athletic Business conference in San Diego.

Also at the conference, Augie kicked off preparations for the sixth annual Bash for Augie’s Quest, which will be held March 18 at the San Francisco Marriott as part of the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) conference and trade show. The theme for this year’s bash is Make a Muscle, Make a Difference.

Along with his wife, Lynne, Augie serves as co-chair of the ALS division of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). Through Augie’s Quest, a fund-raising initiative that began in 2006, the Nietos have helped raise more than $26 million for ALS research.

That money already is making a difference. There’s a new drug that has slowed the progression of ALS in the animal model, Augie says, although he could not get into specifics about the drug.

“When I was first diagnosed [in March 2005, at the age of 47], all I could see was the wheelchair,” Augie says. “Now, all I can see is the person. For the first 25 years of my adult life, I was trying to get the world to embrace building their muscles. Since my diagnoses, I am trying to prevent ALS victims from losing their muscles! It is the irony of my life.

“ALS is like running a marathon,” he adds, “not knowing where the finish line is, not knowing where the hills are or where the water stations are.”

It’s interesting that Augie speaks in terms of marathons. His business model at Life Fitness was sprint and recover, which also was one of the chapters in his book “Augie’s Quest: One Man’s Journey from Success to Significance.” Yet Augie is used to marathons—he has run 21 in his life—and without that training, his battle would be more difficult, he says.

“The hardest thing that I deal with [is] the constant change,” he says. “Every day, I wake up weaker than the day before. You try to adjust to the new limitations, and just when you figure it out, it changes again.”

NEXT PAGE: AUGIE’S DAILY ROUTINES AND ADVENTURES

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