Lou Gehrig's Disease Research Paper

ALS and CTE: The Incurable Mysteries

Imagine being trapped inside your own head, not able to move, talk, or even swallow. This is what life is like when someone suffers from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. One month you are perfectly fine, then the next month your speech is slurred, almost as if intoxicated, after several months you start to lose the ability to do daily activities such as walking and eating. With ALS you lose the function of your whole body except your brain, which stays in a pristine condition, able to comprehend everything that happens around you, able to be emotional about the situation you are stuck in. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE, is somewhat the opposite of ALS. With CTE the body stays

This disease mainly attacks the motor neurons in the brain, causing them to die. When motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. Voluntary movement is heavily affected; voluntary muscle movement can be as simple as shrugging your shoulders, or as major as swallowing, speaking, or breathing. ALS can usually strike a person from the ages of 40 to 70, and after being diagnosed, the average life expectancy is about five years. The disease may vary in different cases, the famous Hall of Fame baseball player, Lou Gehrig was diagnosed at age 39 and died a mere two years later. Athletes have been shown to have been getting the disease at a younger age due to repetitive head trauma received from contact sports. Repetitive head trauma has been linked to the deposits of Tau protein in the brain which then leaks into the spinal cord then poisoning the motor neurons. Unfortunately there is no cure for ALS at this time, only technology and apparatuses used to aid those suffering from

Steve was diagnosed with ALS in 2011, only 3 years after retiring from the NFL. Since his diagnosis, Gleason has made it his job to bring awareness and discussion about ALS. He started a foundation based in New Orleans that helps others who have this disease. The foundation helps provide technology and equipment that can aid those with ALS. He played a part in the social media trend known as the, “Ice bucket Challenge” which brought a huge amount of awareness about ALS throughout the entire world. Currently Steve has state of the art technology that helps him get around. His electric wheelchair has a computer attached to it letting him communicate, control the temperature in his house and even watch television with his son, Rivers