What’s ALS?

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, usually fatal, neurodegenerative disease caused by the degeneration of motor neurons, the nerve cells in the central nervous system that control voluntary muscle movement. In the United States, the condition is often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease; although currently, ALS is probably associated by the public more with physicist Stephen Hawking than with the New York Yankees legend.

The Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the ALS Association provides support and resources for ALS patients, their families, and caregivers living in the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. The ALS Association is the only national nonprofit organization dedicated solely to the fight against ALS.

ALS causes muscle weakness and atrophy throughout the body as both the upper and lower motor neurons degenerate, ceasing to send messages to muscles. Unable to function, the muscles gradually weaken, develop twitches, and eventually atrophy.

Eventually people with ALS will not be able to stand or walk, get in or out of bed on their own, or use their hands and arms. In later stages of the disease, individuals have difficulty breathing as the muscles of the respiratory system weaken. Most people with ALS die from respiratory failure, usually within 3 to 5 years from the onset of symptoms. However, about 10 percent survive for 10 or more years.

Little-known ALS fact: Not being Yankee fans, the French call it Maladie de Charcot, or Charcot’s disease. Jean-Martin Charcot was a French neurologist who has at least 15 diseases named after him. He has been called "the Napoleon of the neuroses," a title he held until the French release of Annie Hall in 1975.

Notable people living with ALS include:

  • British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking
  • American guitarist and composer Jason Becker
  • American musician Eric Lowen of Lowen & Navarro
  • American football star Orlando Thomas
  • Former italian soccer player Stefano Borgonovo

Notable people who have died of ALS include:

  • American baseball star Lou Gehrig
  • American baseball star Catfish Hunter (although he was diagnosed with ALS, he died from a fall down a set of stairs)
  • American baseball star Kent Hrbek’s father Ed Hrbek died from ALS. Later Hrbek, with his wife, founded the Minnestota chapter of the ALS Association
  • American football star Glenn Montgomery
  • Morrie Schwartz, a college professor and subject of the book Tuesdays With Morrie
  • German-Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig
  • Soap opera actor Michael Zaslow
  • American politician Jacob Javits
  • American jazz bassist Charles Mingus
  • American folk guitarist Lead Belly
  • American actor Lane Smith
  • American gerontologist Roy Walford
  • Henry A. Wallace, former American Vice President
  • Dennis Day, American vocalist and Jack Benny co-star
  • Longtime Chicago television newscaster John Drury
  • Sue Rodriguez, an advocate of assisted suicide
  • Leeds United and former England football manager Don Revie
  • British actor David Niven
  • British musicologist Hans Keller
  • British musicologist Stanley Sadie
  • Mathematician and computer scientist Fokko du Cloux
  • Jon Stone The Creator of Sesame Street
  • Vietnam War survivor and prison camp escapee Dieter Dengler, on whose story the movie Rescue Dawn is based
  • American political activist and writer Harry Browne
  • Roberto Fontanarrosa, Argentinian writer and cartoonist

Thanks, Wikipedia!