...There are many people who could be nominated for their artistic contributions, advances in technology, medical contributions and scientific advances. But one person sticks out in my mind as a genius of the Western culture. Through his disability I believe Stephen Hawking has stood out as a genius of our Western culture. Even with being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, he has provided ground breaking work in cosmology and physics. He has written several different books to allow science more attainable to the average person. Stephen Hawking was the oldest of four children, born to Frank and Isobel Hawking on the 8th of January, 1942 in Oxford England. He was born on the 300th anniversary of the death of Galileo. This has been a large source of pride for Hawking. He was born into a smart family his mother was one of the first female students at Oxford University. His father was also a graduate of Oxford, being a well known researcher of medicine, his specialty in tropical diseases. The birth of Stephen came at a bad time to his parents, for they had little money and was during World War II. Stephen’s father was hoping he would follow his steps and research medicine, but from an early age Stephen showed more interest in the sky and science. In his early academic life, Stephen was seen as a bright child but was not an exceptional student. He was more interested in things outside of school. He enjoyed board games and even constructed a computer out of recycled...
Words: 1014 - Pages: 5
...One way, out of several, that I received the news by way of mass media was through the social media web site “Facebook.” From this particular site, I was, like so many other people locally and nationwide, learned about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or as it is commonly known as, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. I saw what has become viral around the nation and world, hundreds upon hundreds of people, ranging from my family, peers, or some type of celebrity, doing what we now refer to as the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.” Although I did see the countless number of individuals getting “called out” by another individual or group and them doing the same, and thereby causing them to dump a bucket of ice on their head to raise awareness for ALS, I also saw a number of people donate to research for the ALS foundation as well. From this stemmed a wide array of information about what ALS actually is other than people dumping ice cold water on their heads. There were several major news stations either posting or reposting on the site as to the amount of money raised for the ALS foundation and these ranged from FOX News, to CNN to The Wall Street Journal and even the spoof articles of The Onion. That being said, I was able to view interviews with those who had ALS or the family members who had been affected by the condition. I could also listen to or view podcasts from radio hosts such as Dave Ramsey. Though I was viewing all of these different news and media information, I was doing so through...
Words: 358 - Pages: 2
...LS Lou Gehrig’s Disease Samantha Candela Chamberlain College of Nursing NR 283 Professor Hommelson May 28, 2016 Lou Gehrig’s Disease Lou Gehrig’s disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is commonly known as ALS. It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord (2016). The body’s motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord then to the muscles throughout the body. In ALS the motor neurons slowly degenerate eventually leading to a person’s death. When the motor neurons die our brain loses the ability to initiate and control muscle movement. As the neurons die, a person’s body loses voluntary muscle action. This causes people to lose the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe. There are two different types of ALS, sporadic and familial. Sporadic is the most common form of the disease, with 90 – 95 percent of the cases (2016). Familial means the disease is inherited, accounting for 5 to 10 percent of the cases. According to The ALS Association a population study has show that a little over 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year (2016). 60% of the people with ALS are men and 93% are Caucasian. People usually develop ALS between the ages of 40 – 70, but has occurred when a person is in their twenties and thirties (2016). ALS is 20% more common in men than in women. Heredity is also a risk factor with 5 to 10 percent of people with ALS inheriting the disease (Mayo, 2014). A recent study...
Words: 774 - Pages: 4
...Throughout history there have been an array of diseases and illnesses, everything from the common cold to epidemics that have decimated populations. Medical Science has progressed to the point that many diseases are now treatable, curable, or even extinct. Yet even with this incredible progress there are still many diseases that remain not only without a cure, but without even effective treatments. One of these diseases is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease as it is commonly known, is a degenerative disease affecting the nervous system and the only outcome is death. Let’s take a look at the symptoms and how the effect they have on ALS patients. The early symptoms are slight and hardly noticed, they are easy for victim’s to ignore and even easier for physician’s to misdiagnosis. Early symptoms include muscle weakness, fatigue, and a heavy or numb feeling in the arms and legs. These symptoms begin slowly as simply dropping things or tripping frequently. Then the symptoms begin to cause a lot more problems that are much more difficult to ignore. Patients begin having trouble with things we do every day without really even having to think much about them. As this disease progresses into the more advanced stages victims experience difficulty with swallowing, breathing will become difficult and leave the patient at high risk for pneumonia and they lose the ability to speak. The only abilities spared by this devasting disease are brain function, eye...
Words: 1233 - Pages: 5
...Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease) Dustin M. Sumner ITT- Technical Institute of Technology Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease) Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. When muscle has no nourishment, it “atrophies” or wastes away. “Lateral” identifies the areas in a person’s spinal cord where portions of the nerve cells that signal and control the muscles are located. As this area degenerates it leads to scarring or hardening (“sclerosis”) in the region. ALS is a disorder that affects the function of nerves and muscles. Based on U.S. population studies, a little over 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year. (That’s 15 new cases a day.) It is estimated that as many as 30,000 Americans have the disease at any given time. According to the ALS Care Database, 60% of the people with ALS in the Database are men and 93% of patients in the Database are Caucasian. Most people who develop ALS are between the ages of 40 and 70, with an average age of 55 at the time of diagnosis. However, cases of the disease do occur in persons in their twenties and thirties. Generally though, ALS occurs in greater percentages as men and women grow older. ALS is 20% more common in men than in women. There are several research studies – past and present –investigating possible risk factors that may be associated with ALS. More work is needed to conclusively...
Words: 463 - Pages: 2
...When a loved one dies, it may seem like the world is going to end. Although it is emotionally taxing, death never makes that person go away. In Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, Mitch was a popular newscaster who was engulfed in modern society. When Mitch saw his former sociology teacher, Morrie, on a nighttime television talk show, he went to his house to reconnect. He found himself visiting every Tuesday to discuss different life lessons from Morrie. Because Morrie had a terminal illness, ALS, he gained a new appreciation for life, making him wiser and more intoned with what truly matters. A major topic portrayed through out this book is death. During one of the final Tuesdays Morrie muttered these words to Mitch, “Death ends a Life not a relationship”(174) encapsulated Morrie’s teachings. Morrie teaches Mitch that just because someone died, does not mean they are not still present. The idea that life does not end a relationship is exemplified with Mitch’s relationship with his uncle, Morrie’s relationship with his mother, and Mitch’s relationship with Morrie. After Mitch heard his uncle had pancreatic cancer, at the age of forty-four, he was devastated. Mitch heard about his uncle when he was in his mid twenties, trying to pursue his dream of being a famous pianist. Mitch admired his uncle so much and had modeled himself after him. As Mitch watched his uncle die a slow death, he felt helpless. After his uncle passed away, he realized that he could die at any moment and...
Words: 1017 - Pages: 5
...Taylor Curry Dr. Ward English II November 4, 2014 ALS or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis but mostly known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease” is a disease where the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movements. It was named after Lou Gehrig because he was the first person with this disease. He was diagnosed in 1938, the doctor originally diagnosed him with a very rare form of degenerative disease. On June 2, 1941 is when the world lost a beloved baseball legend to ALS. This disease will end up leading people with the disease to their death. A-myo-trophic comes from the Greek language. “A” means no or negative, “Myo” refers to muscle and “Trophic” means nourishment- “no nourishment”. “Lateral” identifies...
Words: 1246 - Pages: 5
... Wednesdays with Grandpa Have you ever wondered what a dying person is thinking? Well, in Tuesdays with Morrie one is can find out exactly what a dying person is going through. This book makes a person think about the very small details in life and it truly opens up a person’s eye to the important things in life. It just so happens that I was going through the exact same situation in real life that Mitch was going through in the book. This is a nonfiction book written by the main character: Mitch Albom. I can personally say that many of the topics that were brought up in the book are completely accurate. The book starts off with Mitch talking about his life and reminiscing on his college life. Not only his college life, but a certain professor that he grew extremely close with. Morrie had been teaching at the university for several years and Mitch was his overall favorite student. Morrie developed ALS. Mitch heard the news and went to visit Morrie, they reconnected and it was like nothing had ever happened. Morrie decided to take Mitch on this journey with him, the journey of his death. He knew Mitch’s life was not how it was supposed to be going and he knew Mitch was focusing on the wrong things. After Mitch first came to visit Morrie decided to make this a class, they visited every Tuesday and Mitch recorded every session. Each Tuesday was a lesson on a different topic such as: The World, Family, and The Fear of Aging. After the many lessons and visitations they had...
Words: 1052 - Pages: 5
...I have been tasked with writing a paper about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The ALS Association website has described ALS in a very clear and concise manner and I would like to share that with you know. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed. A-myo-trophic comes from the Greek language. "A" means no or negative. "Myo" refers to muscle, and "Trophic" means nourishment–"No muscle nourishment." When a muscle has no nourishment, it "atrophies" or wastes away. "Lateral" identifies the areas in a person's spinal cord where portions of the nerve cells that signal and control the muscles are located. As this area degenerates it leads to scarring or hardening ("sclerosis") in the region. As motor neurons degenerate, they can no longer send impulses to the muscle fibers that normally result in muscle movement. Early symptoms of ALS often include increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs, speech, swallowing or breathing. When muscles...
Words: 2171 - Pages: 9
...Alzheimer’s affects the older generation with a gradual increase of symptoms, while ALS (Lou Gehrings Disease) usually affects adults between the ages of 40-60. In this paper you will learn information regarding the statistics, treatments, and survival rates of each of these chronic diseases. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis better known as ALS, I a serious neurological disease that causes muscle weakness, disability, and eventually death. Worldwide ALS occurs in 1 to 3 people per 100,000. In the vast majority of cases -90 to 95 percent- doctors don’t know yet why ALS occurs. About 5 to 10 percent of all ALS cases are inherited. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. It is the most common cause of dementia –a group of brain disorders that result in the loss of intellectual and social skills. These changes are sever enough to interfere with day to day life. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer’s are both neurological diseases that affect different parts of the body. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis affects the limbs, while Alzheimer’s affects are in the brain. Initial symptoms of ALS are obvious muscle weakness usually in the foot, leg, or arm, slurred speech, or trouble swallowing. These symptoms can be seen at the onset of ALS, whereas symptoms of Alzheimer’s often go unrecognized and undiagnosed in the early stages, because the first symptoms...
Words: 917 - Pages: 4
...Sue Rodriguez was a 42 year old woman living in B.C. who was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a terminal illness that caused her a lot of pain and suffering (Smith, 1993.) She wanted to end her life with the assistance of a qualified physician. However, Section 241(b) of the Criminal Code made assisted suicide an indictable offence (Smith, 1993.) She said “if I cannot give consent to my own death, whose body is this? Who owns my life?” and was inspired to work to change the law (Smith, 1993.) Sue Rodriguez put in a lot of time and effort to try to change the law. She applied to the Supreme Court of British Columbia for an order declaring s. 241(b) invalid under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Smith, 1993.) The B.C. court dismissed her application so she then appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada (Smith, 1993.) In the Supreme Court of Canada, Sue Rodriguez argued that s. 241(b) violates sections 7, 12, and 15 of the Charter (Smith, 1993.) Section 7 of the Charter granted her right to life, liberty, and security of person (Smith, 1993.) She argued that s. 241(b) prohibited a person from aiding her to end her life when she could not do so without assistance, thus depriving her of liberty (Smith, 1993.) She was also deprived of her security of the person because s. 241(b) deprived her of her ability to control decisions about her body which caused her physical pain and psychological stress (Smith, 1993.) Sue Rodriguez also argued that s. 12 of the...
Words: 676 - Pages: 3
...Football players more likely to develop neurodegenerative disease, study finds By Nadia Kounang, CNN updated 4:38 PM EDT, Wed September 5, 2012 [pic] (CNN) -- Just hours before the 2012 NFL season kicks off, a new study suggests that professional football players are three times more likely to have neurodegenerative diseases than the general population. When researchers specifically looked at Alzheimer's disease and ALS -- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease -- that risk increased to four times greater than the rest of us. The study, published Wednesday in the medical journal Neurology, surveyed nearly 3,500 retired NFL players who were in the league between 1959 and 1988. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a division of the Centers for Disease Control, had been following this group of players since the early '90s, when the NFL asked the institute to evaluate them for their risk of cardiovascular disease. This time, the authors decided to look at the neurological outcomes of the players by specifically evaluating the autopsies of 334 players. "We looked at all the death certificates, and Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and ALS had significant contribution to the death," according to study co-author Elliot Lehman. When tallying those specific diseases, the authors found that among the 334 players, seven had died from Alzheimer's and another seven with ALS. Three players had died with Parkinson's disease, but the authors...
Words: 1099 - Pages: 5
...secured transport organizations; and Vice-President of Al Qussie International Contracting Est. He is not only a businessman but is also a writer of the following: a. Writer, "Descendants and Ancestors of Pasha Saleh Mohsin Al-Athel & Relatives Edition I" b. Co-writer of a 1017 page book entitled "Human and Disaster" c. Writer, Al Qussie International Contracting Est. Administration Policy & Procedure Manual d. Writer, Al Qussie International Contracting Est. Human Resources Policy & Procedure Manual e. Writer, Al Qussie International Contracting Est. Technical Affairs Policy & Procedure Manual Despite the present condition he has acquired in which he was diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis also known as ALS for nearly six years now, it has not hindered him to stop what he has been used to do six years ago, but rather, he became more of a fighter in his own right and stronger to fight such disease. It only proved one thing that...
Words: 409 - Pages: 2
...Losing A Parent For me losing a parent was probably the most difficult thing I had ever gone through in my entire life. I lost my dad 4 years ago to a paralysis disease called Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS). Of course it was devastating. To lose someone you thought was invincible is like finding out that Superman was no longer powerful anymore. Although he got weaker physically, he got stronger mentally. To be a 13 year old kid that just moved to a new city and that had a sick parent was really hard. Everything was new and scary. I was worried about my dad 24/7 and I really couldn’t relax. By going on what I experienced I feel like my dad’s illness and the journey he went through and my whole family went through, was a learning experience. I think we all became a little stronger and our family became closer. Before his illness I didn’t get to see my dad as much. It’s unfortunate that it takes a terrible disease to bring us together but it did. As a person and a daughter I’m just glad I got to be with that one person I looked up to the most, before it was time to say goodbye. Honestly it’s so hard living without him. When Father’s day comes rolling around I feel so sad. I see everyone celebrating this day with their father’s and I don’t get that chance at all. I really hope all of these people who still have their father’s, really appreciate them, Because you never know if you will see that person again. This goes for any loved one. Over the past 4 years I’ve learned to be more...
Words: 326 - Pages: 2
...Campaign: ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Synopsis: The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was a global campaign that was used to raise awareness and funds for the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Although the said challenge has been on for decades, this particular ice bucket challenge was brought to the attention of the public by Pete Frates. Pete was a former Boston College captain of baseball who was diagnosed with ALS when he was 27. The campaign started as simple as Frates challenging his friends and some celebrities to do the challenge and “strike out ALS” on July 31, 2014. The challenge went viral, with people from all over the world either doing the challenge within 24 hours or donating to the ALS Association. According to ALS.net, they will do the challenge all over again and for every August, until they find a cure. Media Mix: With this campaign, Pete first used his personal Facebook account to nominate his friends and then had his own page – Team FrateTrain – which is dedicated to striking out ALS. The campaign also used social media as its primary mode of promoting the campaign since every person who will participate in the challenge had to post their video of doing the actual challenge online. Since we are now in the Age of Millennial everything is posted online and because of the behavior of society nowadays always following the trends. Also, because celebrities were doing it since they have followers most likely it piqued the interest...
Words: 563 - Pages: 3
