Star Trek: Discovery’s Kenneth Mitchell, who revealed last month that he is living with ALS, has now talked about what it was like telling his children about his diagnosis. In a piece in People Magazine, Mitchell, along with his wife, actor Susan May Pratt, explained how he was first diagnosed, and how their family coped with the news.

Mitchell was diagnosed with ALS in August of 2018. In the months leading up to the diagnosis, he told People, he experienced a persistent twitching in his left arm. He thought it would go away, but it never did. After he got the diagnosis, he and Pratt had to tackle the hard part - telling their children, 12-year-old Lilah and 7-year-old Kallum, who were 11 and 5 at the time.

According to People, Mitchell and Pratt consulted with experts before deciding to talk to the children individually. Lilah, Pratt said, “sat on [Mitchell’s] lap and cried.” Kallum, on the other hand, had a different reaction. Pratt explained, “We didn’t want to talk about dying because he doesn’t understand that at 5. We told him that dad has an illness and we’re going to do everything we can. And he goes, ‘This is not what I came here to talk about.’ He thought he was in trouble!”

Afterward the couple focussed on family, and pulled the kids out of school to take family vacations and nurture their relationships. For Mitchell, the hardest part of his illness has been the children. “I want to be strong for them and keep inspiring them,” he said. “I think kids are really interesting. They have such an innocence and a hope that other people don’t. I just draw on that a lot.”

According to Wikipedia, “Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neurone disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a disease that causes the death of neurons controlling voluntary muscles. ALS is characterized by stiff muscles, muscle twitching, and gradually worsening weakness due to muscles decreasing in size.” The ALS Association says, “Although the life expectancy of a person with ALS averages about two to five years from the time of diagnosis, the disease is variable. Many people can live with the disease for five years or longer. In fact, more than half of all people with ALS live more than three years after diagnosis.”

After Mitchell revealed his diagnosis at the end of February, he spent a week with Star Trek fans aboard Star Trek: The Cruise. You, of course, can see Mitchell performing as not just one but THREE Klingons in Star Trek: Discovery seasons one and two, now streaming on CBS All Access.