Famous people with ALS
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Lou Gehrig
Lou Gehrig was a baseball player for the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1939. He became very famous for his expertise as a hitter and endurance. In 1939, Lou Gehrig was not playing very well but he did not know the cause of his inferior performance. He decided to bench himself which ended his streak of playing in 2,130 consecutive games. At the time, Lou Gehrig had played the longest amount of consecutive games out of any baseball player. Then, Lou Gehrig traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. At the clinic he was medically tested for six days after which the clinic diagnosed him to have ALS. He was told he had less than three years to live.
Later in 1939, Lou Gehrig was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Once the public knew that Lou Gehrig had ALS they wanted to honour him. He gave many speeches and the Yankees proclaimed July 4, 1939 to be "Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day". ALS is also called "Lou Gehrig's Disease" in honour of Lou Gehrig.
Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He is world famous for his work in astrophysics such as the theory that black holes emit radiation. Hawking has a very rare form of early-onset, slow-progressing form of ALS. He was diagnosed with ALS when he was 21 and now he is of age 74. In his case, the upper and lower motor neurons are degenerating very slowly causing him to be gradually paralyzed over the decades. He uses lots of technology to communicate with only one cheek muscle! His cheek muscle movements allow him to type, letter by letter, or control the mouse on his Windows tablet. His computer-based communication system is sponsored by Intel which is working on innovative ways to let him communicate more effectively. Hawking even gives speeches using pre-written lectures which he sends to his speech synthesizer that reads them sentence by sentence for him. Below is an infographic with more details on the amazing technology that Hawking uses to communicate:
Lou Gehrig was a baseball player for the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1939. He became very famous for his expertise as a hitter and endurance. In 1939, Lou Gehrig was not playing very well but he did not know the cause of his inferior performance. He decided to bench himself which ended his streak of playing in 2,130 consecutive games. At the time, Lou Gehrig had played the longest amount of consecutive games out of any baseball player. Then, Lou Gehrig traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. At the clinic he was medically tested for six days after which the clinic diagnosed him to have ALS. He was told he had less than three years to live.
Later in 1939, Lou Gehrig was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Once the public knew that Lou Gehrig had ALS they wanted to honour him. He gave many speeches and the Yankees proclaimed July 4, 1939 to be "Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day". ALS is also called "Lou Gehrig's Disease" in honour of Lou Gehrig.
Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He is world famous for his work in astrophysics such as the theory that black holes emit radiation. Hawking has a very rare form of early-onset, slow-progressing form of ALS. He was diagnosed with ALS when he was 21 and now he is of age 74. In his case, the upper and lower motor neurons are degenerating very slowly causing him to be gradually paralyzed over the decades. He uses lots of technology to communicate with only one cheek muscle! His cheek muscle movements allow him to type, letter by letter, or control the mouse on his Windows tablet. His computer-based communication system is sponsored by Intel which is working on innovative ways to let him communicate more effectively. Hawking even gives speeches using pre-written lectures which he sends to his speech synthesizer that reads them sentence by sentence for him. Below is an infographic with more details on the amazing technology that Hawking uses to communicate:
Ice Bucket Challenge
The ice bucket challenge, created by the ALS Association in 2014, was a huge success. It raised millions of dollars for ALS research and treatment. The challenge involved pouring ice-cold water on one's head or forfeiting and donating money to the ALS Association. After the challenge, participants were encouraged to challenge three other people to spread awareness about ALS. The ice-cold water is meant to simulate the pain and numbness felt by ALS patients. Shown below is an infographic showing how much money the ALS Association raised from the Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014 and how the money was spent.