Brooke Eby, who after being recognized with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A.L.S., at 33 introduced her story to social media, utilizing her dry wit and irrepressible allure to lift consciousness and construct connections among the many a whole bunch of 1000’s of people that additionally battle with the deadly illness, died on Thursday in Maryland. She was 37.
Her sister, Sarah Eby, stated the trigger was issues from A.L.S., also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s illness. She didn’t present a particular location.
Via movies posted every day to TikTok, Instagram and different websites beneath the deal with @LimpBroozkit, Ms. Eby (EE-bee) mentioned the every day surprises, difficulties and moments of levity she encountered as her illness progressed, within the course of amassing about half 1,000,000 followers.
She integrated social media tropes to get her message throughout — one in all her first movies to go viral was a “GRWM,” or “prepare with me,” a mode of submit by which somebody discusses hair, make-up or clothes whereas preparing.
Besides Ms. Eby, whereas casually making use of make-up, says, “Let’s prepare whereas I inform you how I obtained a demise sentence earlier than my thirtieth birthday.”
Recruiting her associates and her dad and mom as walk-ons, she posted about relationship, adorning her wheelchair and choosing out clothes as her illness steadily lowered her capability to dress herself.
The movies have been about greater than getting laughs and likes, she insisted, and stated she gave about half of what she earned on-line to A.L.S. analysis.
“It’s not inherently enjoyable to observe a illness story, particularly today when everyone seems to be a content material creator and you may spend all day scrolling by movies of canine doing cute issues and ladies in fairly style outfits,” she informed BrainHealth.com in 2025. “However perhaps now if you hear about ALS, you image me as a substitute of simply interested by statistics.”
Ms. Eby was simply 29 when she first observed a tightness in her calf. She initially dismissed it because of a strenuous exercise, however when it endured, her sister, a health care provider, inspired her to see a health care provider.
By the point she acquired her prognosis, 4 years later, she was utilizing a walker to get round New York Metropolis, the place she lived on the time.
A.L.S. is a deadly degenerative illness that assaults a physique’s capability to regulate muscle motion. Whereas it will probably happen in anybody of any age, an individual’s common age at prognosis is round 50; it’s uncommon for individuals beneath 40.
Her youth made Ms. Eby all of the extra desperate to share her expertise.
“I’ve ALS at a relatable age,” she wrote in a 2025 essay in Individuals journal. “I may very well be somebody’s daughter, sister, mother, girlfriend, spouse. I feel individuals see me and it’s just a little extra actual. It’s extra like a shock to the system, after which they begin caring extra.”
At first, she stated, she was depressed, and tried to cover her situation. At a marriage, she was so embarrassed by the sneakers she needed to put on beneath her gown that she determined to depart. However a buddy persuaded her to remain and take advantage of it, and shortly the entire social gathering was dancing the limbo beneath her walker.
“The marriage taught me early on that everybody was much more snug with my scenario once I was laughing, and that got here again round to make me really feel extra snug too,” she wrote in Individuals. “It was a welcome realization after a very grim interval of uncomfortable interactions with my family and friends.”
Along with her social media posts, Ms. Eby based ALStogether, a group primarily based on the Slack app that connects individuals with A.L.S. with caregivers, researchers and households.
“She had a functionality for making individuals round her really feel much less alone,” stated Sheri Strahl, the chief govt of the A.L.S. Community, which gave Ms. Eby its advocate of the yr award in June. “Brooke took her personal visibility and translated it into actual group.”
Certainly one of her final tasks was a collaboration with the clothes model Silverts, by which she helped design outfits that accommodated the wants of individuals with A.L.S. and comparable illnesses.
In a video posted the day of her demise, she introduced a few of her gadgets.
“I lastly get to indicate you the brand new adaptive pants from my B.E. Assortment,” she stated, utilizing a text-to-voice system developed by ElevenLabs. “Or in case you choose my mother’s urged opener for this video, ‘Thrilling Bottoms.’”
Brooke Elizabeth Eby was born on Dec. 22, 1988, in Potomac, Md., the place her father, Clifford, was an engineer and her mom, Eugenia (Eiselman) Eby, labored in politics.
After graduating from Lehigh College in 2010 with a level in enterprise info methods, she lived in New York and San Francisco, the place she started working for Salesforce.
Alongside along with her sister, she is survived by her dad and mom and her brother, Chris.
She first observed her calf tightness in San Francisco, however it was not till she moved again to New York that she started to fret.
“In New York, individuals will discover if you’re strolling sluggish, and so they’ll be sure to learn about it,” she informed BrainHealth.com.
She was nonetheless working for Salesforce, and as her situation advanced, the corporate helped her create an tailored working association to accommodate her declining mobility, together with flying her to work conferences on an organization jet. She moved residence along with her dad and mom in 2024.
Ms. Eby questioned what her life would appear like as her situation deteriorated.
“I’m glad that I’m sharing my journey,” she informed The New York Occasions in 2025. “I want somebody had come earlier than me and shared, begin to end, as a result of I nonetheless don’t know what it seems to be like two years from now once I can’t do something, together with discuss. I’m like, how does that work?”