About ALS

What is ALS?

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a relentless syndrome that slowly paralyzes every muscle in your body while your mind remains sharp and stays intact. The brain slowly stops giving commands to the muscles, and in no particular order, it eventually stops communicating with the arms, legs, neck, tongue, throat, vocal cords, and lungs. As those signals stop coming from the brain, the muscles weaken, wither, and die, leaving the patient trapped in their own body. The disease manifests in everyone differently: Some will initially lose their fine motor skills, like the ability to write or apply makeup; some will have their first symptoms be excessive tripping or unexplained falls; others will experience slurred speech and difficulty swallowing first, but no matter where the weakness starts, it will spread to the rest of the victim’s body until total paralysis then death. Most only live two to five years from diagnosis. It’s a cruel fate that robs the patient of their independence and creeps into every aspect of their lives. In the late stages of the disease, patients need help with everything, from the little to the big, like bathing, dressing, feeding, grooming, and even scratching an itch. Only 10% of cases are linked to family history and genetic mutations, which means scientists don’t have an explanation or a cause for the majority of cases. Most people develop ALS between the ages of 45 and 70, but 10% are under 45 years old, and women account for about 45% of all cases. Although it may seem uncommon, 1 in 300 people will receive an ALS diagnosis in their lifetime; every 90 minutes someone is diagnosed with ALS. Even with a high diagnosis rate, only 30,000 people in the US are living with ALS, because it kills so quickly. Currently, there’s no effective treatment or cure, and the disease is 100% fatal.