In the end, Darin Nakakihara delivered his final goodbye the same way he had spread his motto of “Go Find Some Joy” to hundreds of thousands of people: on Instagram.
“Well friends … I suppose this is my final sign-off. What a beautiful life it has been,” the Tustin High School teacher who’d become a noted online influencer wrote in a statement he’d prepared before the effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, had robbed him of his ability to communicate.
“If you’re reading this, know I left this world deeply loved, and deeply grateful. For every prayer, every message, every laugh shared, every person who walked alongside me through this journey — thank you. You carried me more than you know.”
Nakakihara — known simply as “Mr. N” to many — was named one of The Orange County Register’s “Most Influential” in 2024, not only for his advocacy of patients with ALS but also for his boundless encouragement to embrace the good and approach life with a spirit of gratitude and possibility.
Two years almost to the day of getting a diagnosis of ALS, an incurable neurodegenerative disease that disrupts how nerve cells communicate with the muscles and leads to total paralysis, Nakakihara died at his Laguna Niguel home April 22, surrounded by his wife, Denise, and other family members.
He was 58.
When he entered hospice care April 15, Nakakihara posted to his many online followers that it was “the start of my last chapter.”
Read more With flowers blooming, it’s the perfect time to cultivate new habits
Denise Nakakihara said she is thankful for the support the family received during his illness.
“We had people we had never met before that came to us from outside of the state, the country, the city, like, it just …,” she said, overcome with emotion during a Zoom conversation. “He touched lives across so many different platforms and places.”
Nakakihara is survived by his wife; daughters Kendall, Madison and Brooklyn; his mother and father; and legions of friends, former students, a church community and online followers across the world. Memorial services will be private, but for those wishing to express condolences, the family encourages donations to Nakakihara’s nonprofit of choice, I Am ALS, iamals.org.
Nakakihara himself offered these final instructions in his last communication: “Don’t spend too much time being sad for me. Go take the trip. Call the friend. Watch the sunset. Hug your people a little longer.
Read more Face it: Older patients are just clunkers in Dr. Doogie’s eyes
“Go find some joy.”