Williamsport author Marc Schefsky never expected to write a novel. For most of his adult life, his work was anything but writing. He spent years in hospitality, owned and operated a large landscaping business in Florida, worked as a golf pro in Ohio, and later built a long career at the historic Genetti Hotel in Williamsport. After being diagnosed with ALS in 2022, however, Schefsky found himself facing a whole new reality.
By 2025, Schefsky was paralyzed from the neck down. He couldn’t move anymore, but he was left with loads of time, his faith, and a desire to create. With a specialized eye-gaze computer that allowed him to communicate and write using only his eyes, he chipped away at his first work of fiction. As Schefsky himself describes it, The Hush is a novel written by a man with ALS about a man with ALS.
So, what is ALS? ALS, short for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurological disease that attacks the motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. These nerve cells control voluntary movement, including the muscles used to walk, speak, swallow, and breathe. As the motor neurons deteriorate, they stop sending signals to the muscles. Over time, those muscles weaken, twitch, stiffen, and waste away. The disease is often associated with baseball legend Lou Gehrig, whose diagnosis brought national attention to the disease.
ALS does not progress in the same way for every person. For some, it begins with a foot that drags, unexplained tripping, or twitching in the arms, legs, shoulders, or tongue. Others first notice slurred speech or difficulty swallowing. As the disease progresses, weakness spreads from one region of the body to others. Eventually, many people lose the ability to stand, use their arms, speak clearly, eat, or even breathe without support. One of the worst things about this disease is that the mind often remains alert even as the body deteriorates.
There is currently no cure for ALS, and available treatments cannot reverse the damage already done to the nervous system. Some medications may slow progression for certain patients or help manage symptoms. Doctors, nurses, and various medical specialists, along with family, often become part of the same care network.
Communication technology has become one of the most important tools for many people with advanced ALS, including Schefsky. When a person’s speech weakens, or they lose use of their hands, devices that track eye movement can allow a person to select letters and commands on a screen. The process is slow and demanding, but with this technology, people can send messages, communicate, and in Schefsky’s case, write an entire novel.
As a published author myself, I can tell you that writing a book is really hard. Long hours at my desk, rewrites, writer’s block, etc. What Marc did is beyond my comprehension. How he did everything I just described with his eyes, letter by letter, word by word is simply incredible. His diagnosis and paralysis give us context, but they do not define the man. ALS may have taken away his ability to type with his hands or walk, but it did not take away his ability to create.
Let’s talk about the book which follows Elias Miller, an architect who loses the use of his body to ALS but refuses to disappear from the world. Sustained by an eye-gaze device, Elias becomes known as a Digital Monk, a figure who teaches a struggling valley how to endure, stay connected, and remain human as the world falls apart. For Schefsky, the story became a way to blend his own experience with questions about faith, family, survival, and what people owe to one another during tough times.
Schefsky’s path to writing was anything but traditional. He is quick to point out that he was not an author, poet, or English major before this project. His professional life was built around work that demanded movement, problem-solving, and constant interaction with people. In 2001, he and his then-wife, Jody, moved to Williamsport with their daughters, Lauren and Katie. Schefsky then spent the next two decades at the Genetti Hotel, collecting enough stories, he says, to one day fill another book he’ll call Hotel Confidential.
The inspiration for The Hush came from a different place than his professional life, however. In the years leading up to the book, he had been searching more deeply for his faith. He watched documentaries on religion and paid close attention to global tensions, natural disasters, and the way authority seemed to be tested around the world. Those observations reminded him of passages from the book of Matthew, especially the signs often associated with times of trouble. At first, Schefsky considered writing about his own ALS journey, but he felt that kind of story had already been told many times. He wanted to create something different.
Sometimes working as many as 16 hours a day while his wife, Lori, was busy during tax season, Schefsky pushed on. He says he became efficient enough with the device that he could do virtually anything on his computer that another person could do on a laptop. The technology did not make his circumstances easier, but it made it possible to turn an idea into a completed manuscript.
The story, characters, setting, and themes developed gradually as Schefsky wrote. Current events gave him the spark, but the story expanded through research and his imagination. When he needed to describe an architect’s office, for example, he researched what would typically be found in such a space. Details like that helped him build a believable world around Elias Miller, even as the novel moved into questions of faith, collapse, resilience, and purpose.
At its heart, Schefsky says, The Hush is not simply about disease or disaster. It is about the strength people can find in one another when circumstances become unbearable. His sister-in-law Kim offered what he considers one of the best summaries of the book’s message. It’s about a man forming and pushing his family to be strong together and to do good in the world. That idea runs through the novel’s description of Elias as someone who refuses to give up. His influence continues through wisdom, faith, and his relationships.
The Hush is available through Amazon, Walmart, and Barnes & Noble online, and it can also be downloaded immediately to Kindle through Amazon. (Fyi, I bought my hard copy through Amazon.) Schefsky is not finished writing, either. In addition to Hotel Confidential, he is working on a trilogy called Cradle of the Abyss, inspired by recent O file releases and the theory that such mysteries might come not from outer space, but from the depths of the ocean. Do yourself a favor and check out his first of many novels.
