AlsA-South-Tx.org
Title
Welcome - The ALS Association
Description
Just what is ALS? Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a motor neuron disease, first described in 1869 by the noted French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot. Although the cause of ALS is not completely understood, the last decade has brought a wealth of new scientific understanding about the disease that provides hope for the future.
Lou Gehrig first brought national and international attention to the disease in 1939 when he abruptly retired from baseball after being diagnosed with ALS. Most commonly, the disease strikes people between the ages of 40 and 70, and as many as 30,000 Americans have the disease at any given time. ALS has cut short the lives of other such notable and courageous individuals as Hall of Fame pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Senator Jacob Javits, actors Michael Zaslow and David Niven, creator of Sesame Street Jon Stone, boxing champion Ezzard Charles and pro football player Glenn Montgomery.
ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that usually attacks both upper and lower motor neurons and causes degeneration throughout the brain and spinal cord. A common first symptom is a painless weakness in a hand, foot, arm or leg, which occurs in more than half of all cases. Other early symptoms include speech swallowing or walking difficulty.
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Additional Information
Related Domains
- Neurological Disorders
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
- Als
- Lou Gehrig's Disease
- Amyotrophic
- Motor Neuron Disease
- A.L.S
- Als Association
- Alsa
- The Als Association
- Als Foundation
- Lou Gehrig
- Catfish
- Michael Zaslow
- Morrie Schwartz
- Debilitating Illness
- Muscular Disease
- Degenerative
- Degeneration
- Muscle Deterioration
- ALS
- ALSA
- ALS Association
- ALS Foundation
- The ALS Association