10/10/2025
♥ In honor of AAC Awareness Month and the Walk to Defeat ALS taking place tomorrow in Altoona ♥
🌟What is ALS?
ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
”Amyotrophic” comes from the Greek language. "A" means no. "Myo" refers to muscle. "Trophic" means nourishment. So, amyotrophic means "no muscle nourishment,” and when a muscle has no nourishment, it "atrophies" or wastes away. "Lateral" identifies the areas in a person's spinal cord where portions of the nerve cells that signal and control the muscles are located. As this area degenerates, it leads to scarring or hardening ("sclerosis") in the region.
🌟What happens with ALS?
Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their demise.
When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. When voluntary muscle action is progressively affected, people may lose the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe.
(https://www.als.org/understanding-als/what-is-als)
