ALS AWARENESS MONTH IS HERE

We as humans are hit with many trials through life. I mean, take a look at what we are dealing with right now: Hello, COVID-19.

But if not an often-deadly novel virus, chances are there are other maladies that earn awareness at any given time. October is breast cancer awareness month; September, suicide prevention month. When you look it up, every month has something dedicated to a specific cause.

For the month of May, I wanted to bring up something that doesn’t get much attention, but is something that, when it hits, it hits everyone involved hard: The month of May is ALS Awareness Month.

For those of you who may not know what I am talking about, ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Yeah, it’s a mouthful, but the disease itself is devastating for someone who develops it. It’s classified as a “progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord” (alsa.org). In plain English, that means it is a disease where the neuron cells within the brain and spinal cord start to lose signal, and motor functions start to deteriorate. Muscles atrophy because they cannot receive signals, which also means they become malnourished thanks to those same neurons, and it’s just a losing battle.

ALS can be hereditary, which is least common, as this occurs in only 5-10% of cases. Most common, at 90-95%, are “sporadic” cases, which can affect anyone.

The fact is, the condition is very rare. At any given time there around 16,000 cases of ALS within the United States. But when someone does have it, it’s a slow death sentence. Famous people who developed ALS include famous physicist Steven Hawking (who died in 2018), and famed baseball player for the 19202-30s New York Yankees, Lou Gehrig – hence the name, Lou Gehrig’s disease, often used for ALS.

Now, on the level of the typical MHCC student, there’s very little we can do. Most of us aren’t neurologists studying the effects of ALS. But there are things we can do. Do your research on it. Know its signs, because while it’s still rare, it can still happen to anyone.

You can also donate to the ALS Association, one of the forefronts of funding for ALS research and the source of most of the information within this article. You may remember, back in 2014, there was a popular, widespread movement called the “Ice Bucket Challenge,” where someone would dump an entire bucket of ice water on their own head and also donate some amount of money to the ALS Association. Those donations garnered about $115 million, in 2014 alone.

There have been attempts since to raise the alarm, and the money, but they hadn’t garnered the same kind of response.

Either way, with or without dumping 5 gallons of freezing cold water on yourself, you can always make a difference. If you can spare a few dollars to donate, this is a good place (alsa.org) to look at.