What is ALS?
According to the ALS Association, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( ALS) was first identified in 1869 by French neurologist Jean- Martin Charcot, but it wasn’t until 1939 that Lou Gehrig brought national and international attention to the disease.
Henry Louis Gehrig was an American baseball player who played 17 seasons in the Major League Baseball for the NewYork Yankees. His streak ended in 1939 after he was stricken with ALS. He retired at the age of 36 and died two years later.
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 paralysed.
Most commonly, ALS strikes people between the ages of 40 and 70. However, cases of the disease do occur in 20s and 30s. An important fact that people should know is that ALS is not contagious.
Muscle weakness or stiffness are early symptoms of ALS. Progression ofweakness and paralysis of the muscles that control speech, swallowing and later breathing generally follow. to use exactly the same amount of water, one bucket, that we normally use for our daily bath. The previous night, we froze part of it into ice cubes.
In themorning, we all gathered at the beach for the challenge.
Thoroughly enjoyable
It was an amazingly refreshing exercise and was thoroughly enjoyable.
Prapti Jayanand, a nineyearold member of the group, was the youngest one to take the challenge.
Vikram Satish, another one of our members, who took the challenge felt that these innovative means of spreading awareness were key to finding a solution to these dreaded diseases.