ALS Facts

ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord causing muscles to weaken and atrophy. ALS  is commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease because it obtained public attention when New York Yankee star Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with it in 1939, at the age of 36.

Symptoms of ALS can include twitching, stiffness and cramping of muscles, loss of motor control in hands, arms and legs, weakness and fatigue, slurred or thick speech and difficulty breathing or swallowing.

There are over 400,000  people diagnosed with ALS worldwide. It is an incurable at this time The average survival is estimated at 30 months post symptom onset, but progression varies and up to 10% are estimated to survive 10 years or longer.*

To learn more about ALS, click here.

*source: ALS TDI