DYSART - Dottie Hunt's hands always moved. She drew counters and cupboards to show customers of her late husband, a salesman. She sewed wedding dresses. And when she watched television, Hunt liked to crochet.

Her daughter, Verne Kos of Clutier, attests to her mother's habit of staying busy.

" … Never did just one thing at a time," Kos says. "She's not one to sit idle."

On a recent morning, Hunt, 65, was in bed at Sunnycrest Nursing Center in Dysart. She stared intently at a computer screen, still, save for two fingers draped over a mouse.

Click. Click.

A cartoonish bear appears.

Click. Click. Click.

Hunt adds what appears to be a fishing pole.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neuromuscular disease, has taken charge of most of her voluntary muscles, progressively limiting Hunt's mobility. But she is determined to use - and appreciate - the muscles she still commands.

Since being diagnosed in the 1990s with Lou Gehrig's disease, Hunt expresses her creativity using software. Recently, the Muscular Dystrophy Association included one of her images in its national art collection. The piece, "My Dad and I," shows a father lion cuddling with a cub.

"I just like animals," Hunt says.

The traveling exhibit features photographs, paintings, sculptures and other items created after the artists were diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease, according to Joanne Shortt of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

"It's basically a tool for awareness and an educational tool, and to show that creativity kind of transcends disability … ," Shortt said.

Hunt's graphic design collection includes bears playing tennis and scenic fall landscapes, a family of mice dressed in cloths and an old house in Arizona. She typically starts with an idea, a white screen and a desire to create.

Sometimes Hunt borrows premade figures, but much of the time she builds her images dot by dot by dot. Think Claude Monet.

"Everybody's, like, totally impressed how she works on them," Kos says.

Living with the disease is difficult. Hunt remembers those initial, aggravating symptoms. Her hand wouldn't obey and her toe dragged. Eventually, the door at her workplace, a bank, proved too heavy to open.

Several years ago, Hunt moved to Northeast Iowa to be closer to her daughter.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is rare, incurable, degenerative, progressive and fatal, according to WebMD. About 5,000 cases are identified each year in the U.S. For unknown reasons, the disease causes nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to waste away.

Making pictures is increasingly difficult for Hunt. So is a much more common means of expression, speaking clearly.

Hunt is learning to communicate using a keyboard controlled visually. Instead of using her fingers to type, Hunt makes letters, words and phrases appear on a computer screen by controlling her line of sight.

Hunt acquired the communications equipment on a trial basis from the Muscular Dystrophy Association and Medicare, Kos says.

Hunt is grateful for the devise and appears to take her new challenges in stride.

She will exercise her creativity as long as she is able and use facial muscles that create smiles as often as she can.

"I just have to deal with it. I can't do anything about it."

To view Hunt's work online and learn more about the Muscular Dystrophy Association art collection, visit www.mda.org/commprog/art/displayall.aspx.

Contact Karen Heinselman at (319) 291-1581 or karen.heinselman@wcfcourier.com.