ALS was first discovered 150 years ago in 1869 by French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, but it wasn’t until 1939 that Yankees baseball player Lou Gehrig brought national and international attention to the disease.
In 2018, in Ada, Michigan, EIGHT YEAR OLD Miss Kennedy Arney was diagnosed with juvenile ALS. JUST SEVEN at the time, she became the youngest person diagnosed with the illness in the United States as of September 14, 2019.
Every 90 minutes, someone is diagnosed with ALS and someone dies from it.
About 90 percent of ALS cases occur without any family history. The remaining 10 percent of ALS cases are inherited through a mutated gene.
Half of all people affected with ALS live between three and five years. Twenty percent live five years or more. Up to 10 percent will live more than 10 years.
60% of ALS patients are men. Military veterans are approximately twice as likely to develop ALS.
