ALS And Its Effects On Stephen Hawking

ALS is also known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a disease in which the brain, nerves, and spinal cord deteriorate. It attacks every part of the body except the brain. Causing major body malfunction along with muscle weakening. Which includes lack of strength, the ability to move arms, legs and body, eventually you lose the ability to breathe. The average time of life after being diagnosed is two - five years. It was believed to be inherited or maybe an infection. After years of research scientist have found a major

Amyotrophic meaning, “no muscle nourishment” in Greek, lateral meaning where the neurons are in the spinal cord, and sclerosis meaning “scarring.” ALS, often known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” named after the New York Yankee who first brought awareness to the disease in the late 1930’s, is a neurodegenerative disease, which affects the neurons in the brain. The nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that are responsible for sending and receiving motor signals progressively die off, causing the deterioration of simple motor skills in patients with ALS, such as walking, talking, and eventually speaking and breathing, however thinking is not affected by ALS. Early symptoms cause the person to slowly lose mobility of limbs, but in a matter of a few years, the person loses the mobility of most of their body and will eventually lose the ability to eat and breath, which will ultimately cause death. ALS deteriorates the patient's body, however does not affect the patient's state of mind or sanity while the rest of the body shuts down. People usually get ALS between the ages of 40 and 70. However, there is a growing trend where athletes are getting ALS in their thirties. ALS can be contributed to genetic predisposition, which means that the gene that is responsible for ALS is already in the person’s DNA. In recent studies, however, it was observed that individuals who have had suffered multiple concussions or any other head trauma are

ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) or Lou Gehrig’s Disease is a classified as a degenerative neurological disorder that inhibits motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain to function properly. This disease eventually results in paralysis and imminent death over a period of time. ALS patients have anywhere from a few months, to a couple years to live after diagnosis since their nervous systems are slowly destroyed, rendering the body useless, and sustaining life impossible.

An individual diagnosed with a terminal illness has one major battle to fight. Families of terminally ill patients suffer significant effects related to an illness, forcing some households to have large debts and making them unable to afford food and other necessaries. One specific terminal illness is called Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. ALS is a disease affecting the human nervous system like the brain, muscles, and spinal cord. It is a deadly disease that cripples and kills its victims. ALS is a terminal illness that is characterized by specific symtoms and has treatments.

Professors of neurology do not even know why Stephen has been able to live this long with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Professor Leo McCluskey has some ideas of why Stephen Hawking has lived past the normal person with ALS. One idea is that Hawking is just astounding and an outlier. McClustley’s other idea is that Hawking has the juvenile-onset type of disease. This means that the disorder progresses very slowly. He says this because in most patients who were diagnosed in their teens live into their 40’s, 50’s, or 60’s. Even though Hawking has been confined to a wheelchair ever since he was 21 years of age, he has still been able to bring ideas about black holes and quantum gravity to the public eye. For the past 30 years Hawking has been able to speak through with his trademark computer system. He operates his computer system through his cheek and is able to communicate very well. Having amyotrophic lateral sclerosis did not slow Hawking down. He spent 30 years as a professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge, and he is currently the director of research at Cambridge’s Center for Theoretical Cosmology. Hawking was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 1963, but he has been able to make a family of his wife and three children. His children were born after his diagnosis in 1963; he had kids

“ Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), sometimes called Lou Gehrig's disease, is a rapidly progressive, invariably fatal neurological disease that attacks the nerve cells (neurons) responsible for controlling voluntary muscles (muscle action we are able to control, such as those in the arms, legs, and face).” By what A.L.S association.org says. A neurological disease is a disease that affects the brain and gives it many diseases like brain tumors, epilepsy, and, Parkinson's. “A.L.S is a neurological disease that weakens the muscles to where you can barely move or speak” said alsa.org. You can only live up to two to five years with als. A.L.S is a very rare disease every 100,000 people get it. By what alsa.org said. That means 73,571 people has it in the Whole world right now. Als is a very rare

Lou Gehrig’s Disease Thesis: Weakness in the hands, arms, legs or slurred speech. Imagine having these symptoms and not knowing what is wrong. Then the most dreaded words are uttered, “You have Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or other wise known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a disease that attacks muscles and brain cells. “ALS was first found in 1869 by French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot,but it wasn’t until 1939 that Lou Gehrig brought national and international attention to the disease” (About).

ALS got the name Lou Gehrig’s disease from a New York Yankee’s baseball player. Lou Gehrig had his first symptoms when his batting average had plummeted. He couldn’t hit long balls anymore. His strength was deteriorating. He also started to walk very slowly. After things started going downhill, he found out he had the disease which would later be named after him. He had ALS. On June 4, 1939 Lou said good-bye to his fans and Yankee Stadium. He was going to retire from baseball because of the condition he was in. He was dying of ALS. There have also been many other well-known people diagnosed with this disease. Stephan Hawking was diagnosed with ALS in 1963 when he was only 21 years old, and he is still alive.

The article titled “The Voices of A.L.S. by Tara Parker-Pope has given me a better insight into A.L.S. In fact, it has made me more aware of it. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, affects parts of the nervous system that control voluntary muscle movement. Motor neurons, among the largest of all nerve cells, reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to muscles throughout the body. When these motor neurons die, the brain can no longer start and control muscle movement. At this time there is no cure for the disease; however, over the past few decades, we have made amazing strides in our understanding of the brain, the nervous system, and genetics. Discoveries in each of these areas bring

ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a disease that attacks the muscles and impacts a person’s physical function. Overtime, the symptoms will

Those who suffer from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis live the rest of their lives bedridden, or are embedded to a chair. The average patient diagnosed with ALS are males between the ages of 40-70. Athletes who are diagnosed in their late 20’s due to repetitive head injuries typically live 3-5 years after the diagnosis. Those who are fortunate enough may live 10 years post

ALS is a disease which is prevent the body from producing normal things. Most people who develop ALS are between the age of 40 and 70, with an average age of 55. The athletes is between 20 and 30. “Lou Gehrig, he was a baseball player, he had ALS in his 30 years old”. “Dou Revie, he was a football player, he had ALS when he was 29”. People who have ALS gradually become more disabled, they can’t walk, speak, eat and anything in

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis was discovered in 1869 by a French neurologist named Jean-Martin Charcot. However, the disease did not become known worldwide until 1939 when famous baseball player, Lou Gehrig was diagnosed. The disease later took his life. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as ALS, or more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons extend from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles distributed throughout the human body. Degeneration of motor neurons eventually lead to death. Amyotrophic comes from the Greek language which translate into "No muscle nourishment. ALS can be summed

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, which is also known as ALS is a motor neuron disease that affects the victim’s nervous system and renders their nervous system to break down with each passing second. Without the nervous system, people lose the ability to carry out normal day to day actions, such as walking and eating. If a normal person was given this diagnosis, they would most likely fall into an awful state of extreme depression due to the fact that their life was basically over. However, in the case of Stephen William Hawking, he defied medical odds, is still alive at age 74, has managed to have special science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) schools created in his honor and become a widely known theorist all achieved

A distinctive characteristic of ALS is that although the motor neurons die, the brain, cognitive functions and sensory neurons stay intact (Porth & Matfin, 2009). This makes the disease especially devastating because patients become trapped inside their dying body, with a fully alert mind, but are unable to move. It is not known what causes the exact death of the motor neurons in the body, but “five percent to 10% of cases are familial; the others are believed to be sporadic” (Porth & Matfin, 2009, p.