Cerebrospinal Fluid May Transport ALS Toxins, Mouse Study Suggests

My A-L-S Word Game

Here’s a fun challenge. In the spirit of celebrating ALS Awareness Month, I invite you to play my A-L-S word game. It’s a simple game I created to help me cope with the stress and anxiety of being newly diagnosed with ALS. It goes along with the strategies…

Neurotoxin of Blue-Green Algal Blooms May Raise Risk of ALS

Exposure to a neurotoxic molecule produced by blue-green algae seems to raise a person’s odds of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), particularly for those under 65, a population-based study from Italy shows. The research examined individuals who lived close to freshwater systems — a river, lake, even a…

An Unexpected Delivery Full of Love

As I waited for the postmaster to bring my package to the counter, I tried to think of what I had ordered. Nothing came to mind. He set the brown box on the counter and said, “Here you go,” through his fabric mask. The package, measuring about 12 inches by…

The Monster That ALS Is

Donald Rumsfeld, the former U.S. Secretary of Defense, once stated at a Defense Department briefing in 2002 that, “There are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are…

WSU Students Design Mattress to Help ALS Patients Sleep Better

A student bioengineering team at Washington State University (WSU) has designed a mattress to help amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients and others with sleep or mobility issues rest better. The students — seniors Katie Lober, Jackson Rieb, and Sarah Schroeder — hope to patent their invention and also…