ALS AWARENESS MONTH

ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, is rare disease that is not well understood or familiar to most people. In America, ALS is commonly referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s disease”; named after the 1930s baseball player who developed the condition. Gehrig was renown as being the “iron man of baseball. Unfortunately, upon obtaining the disease Lou Gehrig, as with most people with ALS, died within a few years.

Currently there is no cure. Efforts are centered around improving the understanding of ALS. It is a progressive disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. As ALS damages the nerve cells, the muscles of the body become affected.

Over 5,00 people are diagnosed with ALS annually. More than 200,000 Americans are living with ALS. ALS strikes most often between the ages 40 and 70, and the disease affects military veterans approximately twice as often as the general public.