Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. ALS is also named Lou Gehrig’s disease because he was the first person to bring ALS to a national attention in the 1930’s. Lou Gehrig’s amazing professional baseball career was ended short by this horrific disease. There are multiple treatments for ALS, but no cure for this fatal disease. In 2014, ALS was brought to major attention by the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Although Lou has the disease named after him, there are several other notable individuals who have been diagnosed with ALS. These individuals include Stephen Hawking, Jim Hunter, Steve Gleason, George Yardley …show more content…
Breaking down the disease “amyotrophic lateral sclerosis” word for word can help you understand how this disease affects someone. The word “Amyotrophic” comes from the Greek language. “A” means no, “myo” refers to the muscles, and “Trophic” means nourishment. This translates to “No muscle nourishment.” When a muscle has no nourishment it wastes away and cannot be used. The word “lateral” refers to the area where the nerve cells are in the spinal cord. As this area is affected by ALS it creates scarring or hardening which is that last part of the name “sclerosis” (What Is ALS?). The symptoms of ALS include the muscles to not operate correctly in the legs, arms, face, and tongue. Eventually, a person with ALS can lose the ability to breathe too, but recent technologies have made a tubing system to allow you to breathe. ALS is all physically affected, not logical thought. People with ALS still will have the ability to gain intelligence, touch, taste, smell, hear, see, and be able to function sexually (Harvard Med School Family Health Guide). Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is also referred …show more content…
There is not a cure for ALS. Even though there is not a cure, some treatment methods have proven to be effective. Doctors assign individually designed therapy for maintaining a person’s muscle function. A troubling effect of ALS is the difficulty in swallowing food and saliva. This is fixed by the insertion of a tube through the abdomen and into the stomach through which liquid food can be given. To encourage a positive attitude, emotional support from friends and family help the patient mentally (Larson). ALS is a very mystifying disease that in 90 percent of cases, scientists do not know the cause. Scientists say that nothing in the ALS patient’s diet, where they live, or how they have lived their life can be a credible case for ALS. However, in a small percent of cases, a genetic history can exist. In these cases around half of the entire family is diagnosed with ALS (Causes of
Shawnpal Kahlon Ms. Billimoria April 11, 2016 Sue Rodriguez Summary of case Sue Rodriguez was a 42 year old woman suffering from ALS, a terminal disease the slowly destroys the body’s nerves and shuts down all of its function. For Sue the disease had progressed to the point where she could no longer perform everyday tasks she once could such as, picking up a fork, eating cereal and taking a shower. To deal with this, sue hired a personal assistant to help her eat, bathe and sleep.
Susan Williams wants to raise awareness about Dementia Lewy Bodies (DLB), a brain disease that claimed the life of Robin Williams. In an interview People, Nov. 5, 2015, Susan said that no one knew Robin had DLB until after the autopsy confirmed their findings. Although his death was a traumatic experience for Susan, her pain, and sense of loss came when she was forced into a legal battle over Robin’s estate. In two and a half weeks after Robin passed away, the trustees entered the house and started taking things away.
“Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth” (“Lou”). This was said by Lou Gehrig in 1939 at his Hall of Fame ceremony (“Lou”). He had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig disease (“ALS”). To begin, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is broken into three different terms (“ALS”). The “a” in amyotrophic means no or negative (“ALS”).
Now called Lou Gehrig’s disease, which is a nervous system disease that weakens your muscles, and impacts physical function. On July 4, 1939, the Yankees decided to have a day in honor of Lou. All the teamates and fans stood in his honor. Soon after in that december he was inducted into the hall of fame. Shortly after, on June 2, of 1941 he took his last breath.
Lou Gehrig, a name commonly placed with the disease ALS, however, Lou Gehrig was more than just a face for a disease. He was a phenomenal baseball player, a true American hero, a son, a husband and an idol to many. Many say that if one looks up the word “ballplayer” in the dictionary there is an image of Lou Gehrig sitting there as the definition. Lou Gehrig was born June 19, 1903 in New York City, the son of German immigrants, Christina Flack and Heinrich Gehrig. His parents had four children and Lou was the only one that survived past infancy.
What is Multiple Sclerosis: Multiple Sclerosis is primarily a T-cell mediated immune inflammatory disease that disrupts the regular functions of our central nervous system. Our central nervous system, the brain and the spine, are responsible for many of our voluntary and involuntary movements. However, in patients with Multiple Sclerosis, the immune system attacks the myelin sheaths that protect the nerves of the CNS. After repeated attacks, the myelin sheath will fall apart, and the immune cells will continue to attack the nerves themselves, which can be irreversibly damaged.
Introduction of Speech I. I spent the early half of my childhood like any other kid, outside playing, jumping in puddles, having an excess of energy that no one could contain. Then one day all of my energy was gone. I spent my afternoons and evenings napping from severe fatigue. My family thought nothing of it, until I started getting rashes all over my body.
Imagine that one of the greatest baseball players ever had to retire due to a life threatening condition, later to be named after him. That was what happened to the legendary Lou Gehrig. Lou Gehrig was a renowned baseball player for the New York Yankees in the early 1920’s. The “Iron Horse” as he was known, was forced to retire at a young age due to a life threatening disease called ALS and often known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Gehrig was a slugger and was loved by fans for not only for his ability to hit the ball out of the park, but also for his social influence in baseball.
“So, I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for,” Lou Gehrig made that as his closing remarks in his “Farwell” speech two weeks after announcing he had ALS (“Farewell”). ALS, or Lou Gerhig’s disease, is a degenerative neurological disease that weakens and, eventually, renders muscles useless and has many other symptoms and causes that are still being discovered, including brain concussions from football and other sports. Described by scientists as far back as 1824, it wasn’t until 1869 when French neurologist Jean-Marie Charcot first wrote and published reports of the characteristics linked to ALS (“About,” ALSA.org) (“About,” Wordpress). It wasn’t until when Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with the disease. In 1938, after having a difficult time with playing baseball, Gehrig visited the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where he was diagnosed with ALS (“Lou Gehrig”).
Imagine how devastating it would be to be unable to play the sport you love because of an illness. For professional baseball player Lou Gehrig, that is exactly what happened. Gehrig played baseball for the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1939 (“Biography”). At the end of his baseball career he was diagnosed with a disease called Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as ALS. ALS is a neurological disease that attacks the body’s neurons that control voluntary muscle movement (“Amyotrophic”).
The disease that Dale Maxin has is known as Parkinson Disease. This disease has affected Dale 's life in a very negative way. It has caused him much grief. Medication helped him to cope with Parkinson for a period of time, however; even the medication has reached a point where it n longer helps. His wife is who he has to depend on with help for everyday things.
In the autobiography, Laughing at my Nightmare, the author, Shane Burcaw, is diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, and the book deals with Burcaw’s life with spinal muscular atrophy. In order to understand spinal muscular atrophy, one must know the causes, the variations of spinal muscular atrophy, as well as the outlook of the disease. To begin with, one of the key concepts of spinal muscular atrophy is the causes of it. According to WebMD, spinal muscular atrophy is a noncommunicable disease, which means that a person with this ailment cannot infect other people with spinal muscular atrophy due to it being heredity.
When diagnosed with a disease like ALS, giving the individual only a certain amount of time left to live, a living funeral would be an adequate way to say goodbye and commemorate someone’s life. . Funerals are dreadful.
Being diagnosed with ALS can be very heartbreaking. Having ALS restricts Hawking’s mobility and puts him in a wheelchair. Since it also robs him of his speak, he uses a voice synthesizer to speak (Scientist: Their Lives and Works 4). Hawking, since being diagnosed with ALS at just the age of 21,has had to do double the work than anyone else to just get the same outcome. Secondly, Hawking was struck with the news he may not live to much longer at such a young age.
Proven that this disease cause cannot be traced or the reason behind the existence of this disease is unknown, it can be said that Parkinson’s