The activist and attorney had long fought for progressive causes. After his ALS diagnosis in 2016, Barkan became a leading voice in the fight for health care reform — even as his health deteriorated.
After Brian Wallach was diagnosed with ALS, he and his wife Sandra Abrevaya threw themselves into advocating for patients. Everyone up to President Biden took notice.
The iconic singer of "Killing Me Softly" has the condition also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, a representative has announced. For Roberta Flack, it is now "impossible to sing and not easy to speak."
In 2014, it was hard to miss the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that set out to raise money to fund research for the disease. And it paid off. A new treatment was funded by $2.2 million of the funds raised.
Scientists who conducted the study say they couldn't determine exactly why the rate was higher but suggested that repetitive head impacts and traumatic brain injuries may play a role.
Scientists have created detailed maps of the brain area that controls movement in mice, monkeys and people. The maps could help explain human ailments like Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's disease.
Lou Gehrig's disease can take months to diagnose, then rapidly incapacitate patients, leaving many families bankrupt before disability payments and Medicare kick in. A recent law aims to change that.
Scientists say new drugs are on the way for patients with ALS. The latest is a two-drug combo that appears to slow the progression of the fatal nerve disease with a modest but meaningful benefit.
Structures inside healthy brain cells nimbly move from one state to the next to perform different functions. But in certain degenerative brain diseases, scientists now think, that process gets stuck.
