Radio Shows | ALS and Lou Gehrig | mp3 … wma … wav

Today, we will explore ALS and the most famous person killed by this disease...

On July 4, 1939, a speech given in Yankee stadium was not about Independence Day. Rather it was the farewell of one of Baseball's all time greats. Lou Gehrig was retiring from baseball. He'd been diagnosed with an incurable disease that robbed this great athlete of his career and eventually... his life. That disease is called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. You may know it simply as "Lou Gehrig's Disease."

Lou Gehrig is considered one of the greats. His claim to fame was the streak of 2,130 consecutive games. On June 2, 1941, he succumbed to ALS and the country mourned.

Just what is ALS? It's a neuromuscular disease that destroys the nerve cells connecting the brain with the skeletal muscles. Those muscles allow us to walk and talk... and that's often where symptoms of ALS first show up.

The muscles gradually waste away so victims can't move their arms, legs, or body. In a cruel twist, ALS does not affect intellectual ability, memory, personality or sensory functions.

Victims are eventually paralyzed and die from suffocation within 3 to 5 years.

About 30,000 people in America have ALS but we don't know what causes it.

Most people who develop ALS are between the ages of 40 and 70.

There is no cure. The FDA has approved a drug called Riluzole which reduces damage but only prolongs survival by several months.

Scientists are working hard to find what causes ALS and to find treatments with the goal of finding a cure.