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McCann Japan planner Hiro Fujita authors book on living with motor neurone disease

Hiro's bookMcCann Japan planning director Hiro Fujita has written a book about living and working with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a muscle wasting disease he has suffered from four years.

Entitled 99% THANK YOU. Things Even ALS Can’t Take Away, the book takes the form of a diary of Fujita’s thoughts and emotions before and after he was diagnosed. He wrote the book using a computer connected to an eye-tracking system.

Though only left with movement in his left index finger and face, Fujita comes into the office one day a week, and works from home for the rest of the week.

In the book, he writes: “I’m writing these words with my eyes… now, the only things I can move are my left index finger and my face… Eventually, I will become a prisoner of my own body and will only be able to move my eyes. But I believe… the eyes can still say a lot.”

His book, which is being promoted by McCann’s sister PR agency Weber Shandwick, can be purchased through Amazon.comiTunes and Kobo.

Weber Shandwick and McCann are also promoting a foundation launched by Fujita, the END ALS Association, which aims to help find a cure for the disease, raise awareness and provide support for patients. Fujita also writes about the association on his blog.

Fujita was diagnosed with ALS four years ago, at the age of 31. The average life expectancy for ALS sufferers is three to five years after diagnosis.

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