Imagine not being able to button your shirt, tie your shoes, take a drink of water, or simply even bathe yourself. These are the difficulties a person living with ALS, or “Lou Gehrig’s disease” face every day. I wanted to speak to you all today about a disease that has changed my life forever, but sadly is still not known to many. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disease that progressively affects nerve cells in the spinal cord as well as the brain. Eventually motor neurons die and the brain is not able to initiative muscle movement. The progression of this disease leads to death usually within 2-5 years. In America only 30,000 people will have ALS at one time, which causes it to be known as an orphan disease. Although it seems like a small number, every 90 minutes someone is diagnosed with ALS and every 90 minutes someone dies of ALS. The rarity of the disease has caused it to be severely underfunded therefore there are no effective treatments and there is no cure. Currently, while there are not any treatments that cure the disease, the drug riluzole has been shown to modestly slow the progression. Clinical trials are being conducted but researchers are still in search for a cure. There is also no known…show more content… Because the disease is not very common it is often difficult to diagnose. Some people undergo surgery because doctors have told them their weakness is nerve related. Other symptoms can include difficulty talking and shortness of breath. Once diagnosed with ALS each patient varies in how their disease progresses. Some start with slurred speech therefore will lose the ability to talk first and then progressively lose the use of their other muscles. Others might have leg weakness first and lose the ability to walk before anything else. While most commonly those diagnosed are between 40 and 70 years old, people as young as in their teens have been
