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British physicist Stephen Hawking was one of the most famous sufferers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the fatal neurological disease that paralysed his body but did nothing to curb...
Hawking owed one part of his fame to his triumph over amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a degenerative disease that eats away at the nervous system. When he was diagnosed aged only 21,...
Stephen Hawking told the British Medical Journal that this motor neuron disease has many potential causes, and that his ailment might be due to an inability to absorb vitamins [1]. After numerous tests, the doctors told him that his was an atypical case.
- Chin-Lung Kuo
- 2019
- Overview
- 'Mental attitude makes a difference'
Stephen Hawking, who died Wednesday at the age of 76, had lived with the crippling disease ALS for 55 years. How did he do it?
Probably in no small part because he was rich, famous and extremely well cared for, experts said.
Hawking was one of the best-known scientists of modern times, as famous for his motorized wheelchair and computer-generated voice as he was for his user-friendly explanations of esoteric physics and cosmology.
His intellectual strengths were the stuff of awe, but so was his ability to lead not simply a normal life, but an extraordinary one, while suffering with a tremendously debilitating condition.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS is one of several types of motor neurone diseases. It gradually and inexorably paralyzes patients, usually killing within about four years.
Hawking was diagnosed in 1963, when he was just 21 years old. He survived for 55 years with the incurable condition.
Hawking’s needs took a toll on his marriages. He divorced his first wife, Jane Wilde, after 30 years and she’s written about the challenges of being married to such a single-minded man in need of so much attention —medical and otherwise.
He married one of his nurses, Elaine Mason, in 1995, and they later divorced in 2006.
Could Hawking’s devotion to his career have helped keep him alive? “Mental attitude makes a difference, for sure,” Elliott said.
Hawking said so, also.
“When you are faced with the possibility of an early death, it makes you realize that life is worth living and that there are a lot of things you want to do,” Hawking was quoted often as saying.
There is no cure for ALS, although two drugs are approved to help treat some of its symptoms. Patients progressively lose the use of their muscles, often becoming completely paralyzed except for their eyes.
- Senior Health Writer
Mar 14, 2018 · When Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with motor-neuron disease at the age of 21, it wasn’t clear that he would finish his PhD. Against all expectations, he lived on for 55 years, becoming one...
- Martin Rees
- 2018
S tephen William Hawking died on 14 March (Albert Einstein’s birthday) at the age of 76 after decades of battling the incurable disease amyotrophic lat-eral sclerosis (ALS). His early scientific work transformed our understanding of general relativity, Einstein’s theory of gravi-tation.
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Jan 7, 2012 · The disease causes weakness of either upper motor neurons or lower motor neurons or both. It's been known for quite some time that there are variants of ALS. One is referred...
