It is with much sadness and regret that we announce the passing of Ismail Tsieprati on December 22, 2020.
Ismail’s cause of death was acute cardio-pulmonary arrest and pneumonia, secondary to ALS.
Beloved by many, he lived a long and happy life with ALS. Although the average life expectancy of a person with ALS is two to five years from the date of diagnosis, Ismail lived with ALS for 33 years after the date of his own diagnosis and more than 50 years from the onset of his first symptoms.
He was a former film and video editor, producer, director, and writer with more than 25 years of experience in the film and video business. He wrote many screenplays and had extensive educational film credits. Ismail was presented with a special citation from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Building and Safety, for playing an instrumental role in the initial production of the Department’s training video series. In 2003, Ismail was presented with the ALS March of Faces Vice President’s ALS Awareness and Advocacy Award for his outstanding achievements in raising public awareness of ALS. He was also a recipient of a 2017 Walk Hero Award at the 14th Annual Ventura/Santa Barbara County Walk to Defeat ALS.
Although he became totally paralyzed and no longer able to speak or write, Ismail communicated by blinking his eyes to spell out sentences one letter at a time. Using this method, he wrote posts and blogs for social media and collaborated with Cheryl on musical theatre and other writing projects. He wrote chapters for this book by spelling out each word one blink at a time.