Formal Paper: Lou Gehrig’s Disease Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a fairly common disease in America, as nearly 4,600 people are diagnosed with the disease annually and someone is diagnosed every 90 minutes. The majority of people that have been diagnosed with ALS are middle to older aged caucasian men in between their 40’s and their 70’s, yet the diagnostic is not exclusive to any race, color, or age. “Over a period of months or years, patients with ALS develop severe, progressive muscular weakness and other symptoms caused by loss of function in both upper and lower motor neurons. Sphincter control, sensory function, intellectual abilities and skin integrity are preserved.” (Walling, 2013, pg. 1) This is a very crippling disease that can be transmitted in many different ways. The different types of Lou Gehrig 's disease: Sporadic, Familial, and Guamanian. Sporadic, which is the most common type of ALS, is the kind that has been sporadically obtain, meaning, it was not genetically passed down from generation to generation. Unlike Sporadic ALS, Familial ALS is given to future generations through genetics and by family members that have Lou Gehrig 's disease. The disease is typically passed through the genes of males, there has been very few time that the genes were passed to a female. The third type of ALS is an extremely high incidence of ALS was observed in Guam and the Trust Territories of the Pacific in the 1950 's. ALS is said to be both a genetic and environmental
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
Have you ever heard of ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease? For many people, ALS is a disorder that they may not know much about. I never heard of it either until my father was diagnosed with this disease in 2006. Because there is no known cure, it is important to detect this disease early, so that proper treatments and preparation can be done before it’s too late.
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.
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
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a genetic disorder that has proven
ALS was also called Lou Gehrig disease. The reason why it was called the Lou Gehrig diseases is because he was a famous MLB baseball player that was diagnosed with ALS and later on died from it. Lou Gehrig was born in New York City, on June 19, 1903. Lou devoted his whole life in Baseball and his family. Later on Lou was having a hard time tying his shoes and had a feeling that this can be his end of his career. In 1939, The doctor had a bad news for him which was that he was diagnosed with ALS.
“ 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).
However, there are two types of ALS, which are Sporadic ALS and Familial ALS. Sporadic ALS can happen to anyone and makes up most of 90% to 95% of cases, while Familial ALS is inherited and that's about 5% to 10% of cases. Some ailments related to the disease are Primary Lateral Sclerosis (PLS), Progressive Bulbar Palsy (PBP), and Werdnig-Hoffman disease. PLS is a slightly less severe form of ALS, but it does affect the upper body. PBP is a muscle weakness of the body, however, the lower body is affected. Werdnig-Hoffman is a spinal cord disease that affects both children and infants. For all three types, there is no treatment or cure that will slow down the progression. In support of the patients with ALS, multiple support groups have been made, and in addition, patients will donate their brain to science to further the research in finding a cure. In result, ALS isn't the only disease that poses a big issue in sports, CTE also has a notable impact.
I had the opportunity to study the genetic mutation of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or what is more commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Each year approximately 5,000 people are diagnosed with ALS, and statistics show that there are nearly 20,000 Americans who have it at any given time. French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot is believed to be the scientist who discovered the disease in 1869.
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
Lou Gehrig, one of the greats in baseball, had his amazing record taken from him during the 1939 season when he gave the umpire the cards of the players and announced he would no longer play the game. The reason for this was Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis disease or ALS. This disease later became known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. ALS was first discovered by French Neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot in 1869. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis affects the brain and spinal cord nerve cells. “A-myo-trophic means no muscle nourishment” (ALS association: What Is ALS?).
Though the cause of ALS is unknown, many people believe that sports are to blame. Recent studies show that people who have suffered from head trauma are most likely to get diagnosed with ALS at a much younger age. However, some people suffer from repeated blows to the head and not develop the disease. Lou Gehrig was only thirty-six years old when he was diagnosed with ALS; it is said that Lou Gehrig obtained many head injuries and failed to get the rest he needed in order maintain his streak of 2,632 consecutive games. Was not getting the necessary rest to recover a main factor that lead to the development of ALS in Lou Gehrig? Athletes that box or play football are at a higher risk of developing ALS because they are constantly receiving repetitive blows to the head. The reason why athletes develop ALS at a younger age might be because of the constant head