'ALS - NOT JUST LOU GEHRIG'S DISEASE'

On July 4, 1939 Lou Gehrig said these famous words at Yankee Stadium, “For the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break that I got. Yet today I considermyself theluckiestmanonthefaceof theearth.” The bad break he was referring to was the diagnosis of a condition that would become synonymous with him - a neuromuscular condition called Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). ALS is a disease which causes motor nerves in the brain and spinal cord to break down. This reduces the nerves ability to control muscle function leading the muscle to weaken, twitch, and waste away. As the disease progresses it slowly impairs the person’s ability to walk, talk, swallow, and breathe.