ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease)
The name is long and sounds very medical, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), more often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease," and it is a slow death sentence for those with the disease. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that means it affects nerve cells which degenerate in the brain and the spinal cord. Put another way, there are motor neurons that reach from the brain to the spinal cord and then from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed. Yet, through it all, for the vast majority of people, their minds remain unaffected. The progressive weakening of the motor neurons in ALS creates great suffering for patients and eventually leads to their death. The diagnosis for ALS is not always immediate and clear, but the early symptoms of ALS often include increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs, speech, swallowing or breathing.