ALS

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, television producer Scott Brazil, boxing champion Ezzard Charles, NBA Hall of Fame basketball player George Yardley, pro football player Glenn Montgomery, golfer Jeff Julian, golf caddie Bruce Edwards, British soccer player Jimmy Johnstone, musician Lead Belly (Huddie Ledbetter), photographer Eddie Adams, entertainer Dennis Day, jazz musician Charles Mingus, composer Dimitri Shostakovich, former vice president of the United States Henry A. Wallace and U.S. Army General Maxwell Taylor. That’s just a few.

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.

The disease is known as Lou Gehrig’s disease which is sad to name such a dreadful thing after such a likable person. The smile he sported in that picture was as genuine as he was.

I’ve included the following article as a sort of public awareness of ALS. I’m a fan of Stephen Hawking and if I was given to have human heroes, he would be on the top of the list.

Before the disease was too advanced, he would answer emails personally on his website. At one time, he was answering my questions about the Big Bang and he explained certain theories Einstein had in ways that made them very clear. Now there’s a waiting list to get a reply from an assistant but that’s understandable. The point is that he never put himself above the common man.

He still accomplishes more from his wheelchair than most people even dream about. I guess that’s why he inspires me. I’ve often said that it’s our duty to pass on what we learn and he excels at that without being condescending. Plus, he can do math in his head. How cool is that?

I pray for Stephen Hawking and all who suffer ALS and other disabling diseases. He inspires the handicapped and defines courage and my hats off to him.

Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.
Psalms 31:24

Stephen Hawking Expected to Recover

By Dean Carson
Associated Press Writer
April 21, 2009

CBNNews.com - LONDON - The family of physicist Stephen Hawking expects him to recover fully from a chest infection that has left him hospitalized, Cambridge University said Tuesday. Hawking "was being kept in observation" at Addenbrooke's hospital after being admitted Monday.

"He is comfortable and his family is looking forward to him making a full recovery," Cambridge said in a statement.

Hawking, 67, gained renown for his work on black holes and has remained active despite being diagnosed at age 21 with ALS, , an incurable degenerative disorder also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Hawking has been almost entirely paralyzed for years and communicates through an electronic voice synthesizer activated by his fingers.

Hawking was involved in the search for the great goal of physics - a "unified theory" - which would resolve contradictions between Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which describes the laws of gravity that govern the motion of large objects like planets, and the Theory of Quantum Mechanics, which deals with the world of subatomic particles.

"A complete, consistent unified theory is only the first step: our goal is a complete understanding of the events around us, and of our own existence," he wrote in his best-selling book, "A Brief History of Time," published in 1988.

In the sequel "The Universe in a Nutshell," published in 2001, Hawking ventured into concepts like supergravity, naked singularities and the possibility of a universe with 11 dimensions.

He announced last year that he would step down from his post as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a title once held by the great 18th-century physicist Isaac Newton. However, the university said Monday Hawking intended to continue working as Emeritus Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.

The illness, which Hawking has been fighting for several weeks, had caused him to cancel an appearance at Arizona State University on April 6.