Over time, ALS robs patients of the ability to walk, speak, and even breathe independently.
ALS “often begins with muscle twitching and weakness in an arm or leg, trouble swallowing or slurred speech,” the Mayo Clinic explains. “Eventually ALS affects control of the muscles needed to move, speak, eat and breathe. There is no cure for this fatal disease.”
One of the most well-known people to live with ALS was physicist Stephen Hawking, who defied the odds by surviving more than five decades before his death in 2018.
