Stephen Hawking, one of the world’s most famous physicists, passed on March 14, 2018: Pi Day. Despite his disease, Hawking refused to let anything hold him back from his hunger for knowledge. Intelligent and hilarious, the world lost a legend, and he will never be forgotten.
Image courtesy of CBS News
Professor Stephen Hawking was born on January 8, 1942 and sadly passed away too soon at the age of 76 very recently. He battled with ALS for most of his life; the doctors told him he only had a few years to live, but he prevailed and lived for much longer than expected. As time went by, his control over his body dwindled and he was left with only the ability to move his finger and eyes. However, his mind was left to explore and learn at free will.
Hawking lived to write many works, such as 300 Years of Gravitation, The Grand Design, and My Brief History. He worked on the universe’s basic laws and he studied gravity and black holes to a great extent. He discovered that black holes are not actually completely black (crazy, right?). He said that they would eventually fizzle and explode. He received 13 honorary degrees and a plethora of awards. His knowledge was vast and although his time on Earth was not long enough, he was able to discover so much and leave the world with a crazy amount of accomplishments.
This whole article isn’t going to be about Stephen Hawking and all of his accomplishments; I wanted to focus on the disease itself: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a disease that attacks your control to voluntarily move your muscles and it gets worse over time. The body’s muscles weaken and the brain eventually loses its ability to allow the body to make voluntary movements.
Most people with ALS die from failure within the respiratory system and only about ten percent of people with ALS survive for at least ten years. Age, gender, and race all have something to do with the disease: ages 55 to 75 are more likely to develop ALS symptoms, men are more likely to get it, and it is mostly whites who are more prone to ALS disease. There are many symptoms that can develop into a severe issue; they can be overlooked but they will eventually become stronger. These symptoms can include muscle twitches and cramps, stiff muscles, and slurred speech. People with ALS may also have a hard time chewing and swallowing food; they also burn calories at a faster rate so they tend to lose weight and become malnourished.
There has been no cure discovered for ALS, but there are a lot of ways to be treated for it. Medication is available, as well as physical and speech therapy, and nutritional and breathing support. There is also a lot of research being done to understand all of ALS. Scientists look at the development of the disease itself, genetic influences, and they are trying to make new and better treatments.
The height of ALS awareness was in August 2014, when the ice bucket challenge took over. It promoted awareness of ALS and helped raise a large sum of money for the ALS Association. These kinds of campaigns are incredibly important, for people need to know what can be done to help. ALS awareness is just as important as any other kind of disease awareness. Research needs to be done, a cure needs to be discovered, and life needs to be treasured. Professor Hawking, despite his disease, was able to exceed the doctors’ life expectations and live a life full of knowledge and love.
“I want to show that people need not be limited by physical handicaps as long as they are not disabled in spirit.” – Professor Stephen Hawking