ALS – Lou Gehrig’s Disease
News stories are floating around about the deteriorating health of renown mathematician and brainiac Stephen Hawking. As well known for his physical impairments as he is for his educational achievements, Hawking is the genius ever-present in his wheelchair/computer setup in which he types his speech which is then played audibly for the listener.
Hawking suffers from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. With two best-selling books, constant notoriety in the educational field, and even a Simpson’s episode about him (video below), Stephen Hawking is a known quantity in most households. Now it’s important to learn about his disease. According to the ALS Association:
[ALS] is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. 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. 1
Read on:
CNN.com – Stephen Hawking ‘very ill’
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