ALS patient dies in minivan fire on way to Super Bowl dream

ATLANTA – A man with Lou Gehrig’s disease who dreamed of going to the Super Bowl secured tickets from a charity, but was killed when the minivan he was travelling in caught fire on the way to Atlanta.

News outlets report that 39-year-old Ed Cushman of Shelby, North Carolina, got tickets through ALS-dedicated charity Team Gleason in New Orleans.

His brother was driving him Saturday when the minivan began smoking on Interstate 85. A Georgia State Patrol release says Robert Cushman got out to examine the vehicle, at which point flames erupted. He tried to rescue Ed Cushman, who was in a wheelchair and on a ventilator, but the “flames were too intense.”

Ed Cushman ultimately died in the fire.

In a Facebook post, Robert Cushman called the fire a “freak accident.”