Rapidly increasing paralysis, difficulty in swallowing and speaking, and a life expectancy of less than three years, although there would be no impairment of mental functions. That was the prognosis facing Lou Gehrig in 1939. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS is characterized by noticeable loss of strength and muscle control over time. Slowly, but surely you lose the only ways you have to interface with the world around you. You move from cane, to crutches, to chair and from sentences, to sounds, to silence. But whats crueler yet, is that you will be achingly coherent through your deterioration. I know of no bucket of water colder than that last fact.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 04:42:49 +0000
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