Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis — The Disease That Put Stephen Hawking On A Wheelchair

✒️ - By Aan Gray

To the question I asked yesterday:
Aan Gray's Post
It was Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis that took away Stephen Hawking's muscular functions. However, there are two diseases that result from the destruction of the motor neurons: Poliomyelitis and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. In both diseases, the skeletal muscles atrophy from lack of innervation.
ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig disease after the baseball player who had to retire from the sport because of it. It is marked not only by the degeneration of motor neurons and atrophy of the muscles, but also sclerosis (scarring) of the lateral regions of the spinal cord hence its name. Most cases occur when astrocytes fail to reabsorb the neurotransmitter glutamate from the tissue fluid, allowing it to accumulate to a neurotoxic level. The early signs of ALS include muscular weakness and difficulty in speaking, swallowing, and using the hands.
Sensory and intellectual functions remain unaffected, as evidenced by the accomplishments of astrophysicist and best-selling author Stephen Hawking, who was stricken with ALS while he was in college. Despite near-total paralysis, he remains highly productive and communicates with the aid of a speech synthesizer and computer. Tragically, many people are quick to assume that those who have lost most of their ability to communicate their ideas and feelings have no ideas and feelings to communicate. To a victim, this may be more unbearable than the loss of motor function itself.
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