Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Many of you have watched these ice bucket challenges, some of you have done it yourself. You know that doing so raise money for research in hopes that there will some day be a cure. Before I decided to hop on the band wagon, I decided to do some research of my own. ALS was better known as Lou Gehrigs disease for many years. Lou Buster Gehrig was a first baseman for the New York Yankees from 1923–1939. He was known as the Iron Horse for his durability, and was a pretty impressive batter. Arguably, his best year was in 1927, where he ended up hitting .373, with 218 hits: 52 doubles, 18 triples, 47 home runs, a then-record 175 runs batted in (surpassing teammate Babe Ruths 171 six years earlier), and a .765 slugging percentage (Wikipedia). He won the triple crown in 1937 and was the first MLB player to have his uniform number retired. He first reported physical changes at the end of the 1938 season, claiming they started mid-season. The 1939 season was when his condition started to show noticeably, having a .143 batting average by the end of April. On May 2nd, in Detroit against the Tigers, Gehrig informed his manager, Joe McCartney, that he would be benching himself for the first time in 14 years. The Yankees finished out the season with Gehrig as their team captain, though he never played in another major league game. As his condition gradually deteriorated, he and his wife went to the Mayo Clinic, where he would be diagnosed on June 19th of 1939 (on his 36th birthday) with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He died less two years later, on June 2nd in 1941, just 17 days before his 38th birthday. Here are some more facts about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: 1) The average life expectancy of ALS patients is two to five years from the time of diagnosis. 2) Riluzole is the only FDA-approved medication for ALS. It can delay the onset of ventilator-dependence or tracheostomy and it may increase a patients life expectancy by approximately two to three months. 3) Sanofi received FDA approval to market riluzole under the brand name Rilutek in December 1995. 4) Since 1995, only three other drug companies have been approved by the FDA to market generic versions of Rilutek. 5) No other medication has been developed to combat the onset or treatment of ADH since 1995. Could you imagine... Being stuck in your own head? Unable to control any part of your body, seeing the ones you love but not being able to ask them how their day was. Not being able to express to anyone the things youre feeling. Or being on the other side? Watching a loved one lose control of their body and knowing you cant do a thing about it. Knowing how frustrated they must be, and at the same time not understanding anything theyre going through. ALS shouldnt be a game, it shouldnt be a means of profit, and you wont understand that until you try seeing it through the eyes of those who are affected by it.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 15:33:52 +0000
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