“Lou Gehrig’s Disease” Sicknesses have been part of our daily lives for humanity, since time began. Everyday doctors and scientists are working to find new cures and treatments to help improve modern medicine. ALS-amyotropohic lateral sclerosis- is one of those puzzles that is in the process of being solved. According to “Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , in 1869, it was first discovered by Jean-Martin Charcot “the father of neurology”, but did not gain attention from the public eye until 1939, when a famous baseball player by the name of Lou Gehrig was diagnosed (par. 2). Lou Gehrig’s disease, otherwise known as ALS, is an extremely complex disease that breaks down the nervous system, symptoms of ALS are very difficult to discover, and this syndrome is fatal. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS is a complex disease that breaks down the nervous system. ALS Association Create A World Without ALS says that in a-myo-trophic, the “a” means no or negative, “myo” is talking about or referring to the muscle, “trophic” means nourishment, and when you combined the three parts it means no nourishment (par.1). Lateral is the area within the spine where the brain sends a message to the muscles telling them what to do. Sclerosis is hardening, when the disease starts to progress, the lateral areas in the spine will begin to harden and stop being able to receive and send messages. It is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons are what the brain sends the spinal cord, which is how the spinal cord is able to transmit direction the muscles throughout the body. ALS slowly will begin to diminish the motor neurons in the brain. Once the motor neurons die off, the brain will no longer be able to initiate and control muscle movements within the body. Voluntary muscle movement is affected first, patients that have been