The Ice Bucket Challenge was created to raise awareness and interest in the suffering of people with Lou Gehrig’s disease. This disease gradually paralyzes muscles, but there is no cure yet. Many people are participating in the challenge to raise awareness and support for patients.
“Shoo-hoo, ooh! It’s cold!” Recently, videos of people pouring ice water on themselves have been uploaded to Facebook and YouTube. Many celebrities and their friends have participated in these ice water drenching relays, which have been dubbed the Ice Bucket Challenge. The Ice Bucket Challenge, which spreads very quickly because one person nominates three people, was started with the goal of understanding and caring about the suffering of people with ALS. When Stephen Hawking, a famous scientist, was diagnosed with the disease, people began to take an interest and the Ice Bucket Challenge, which has become a social issue, is now known by almost everyone. In this article, we will take a closer look at what ALS is, its symptoms and causes, and the treatment options for ALS.
ALS is not only a disease that causes paralysis, but also a disease that places a heavy emotional and financial burden on patients and their families. As a result, many people participate in various fundraising and volunteer activities to help alleviate the suffering caused by ALS. These activities not only provide direct help to patients, but also play an important role in raising awareness of ALS throughout society.
First, the scientific name of the disease commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and the Korean name is “muscle atrophy lateral sclerosis”. Because the name of the disease is difficult to pronounce, it is more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, after the name of the baseball player who had the disease. In our body, there are nerve cells that connect the brain and every organ. Nerve cells are divided into three types according to their functions, just like the separation of powers in South Korea. First, there are sensory nerve cells, which transmit information from the sensory organs such as the eyes, nose, tongue, skin, and ears to the brain; association nerve cells, which receive and process sensory information from the brain and spinal cord and connect nerve cells; and motor nerve cells, which cause movement according to the results processed by the association nerve cells. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disease that destroys only motor neurons. It destroys both upper motor neurons, which control movement in the brain, and lower motor neurons, which control movement in the spinal cord, and gradually begins to paralyze muscles from the limbs to the respiratory muscles. Therefore, the first symptoms include paralysis of the muscles in the face, limbs, and trunk that are controlled by the upper motor neurons, making it impossible to move the limbs and face at will. This is why the body and facial expressions freeze in an odd position, as is often the case with ALS. As the disease progresses, the lower motor neurons are also destroyed, and the tongue and respiratory muscles, which are controlled by these lower motor neurons, begin to paralyze. As a result, people with ALS have trouble pronouncing words correctly, and when they eat, some of the tongue muscles contract, making it easy for them to choke. In addition, the tongue muscles contract, preventing food from moving properly, and food that should have gone into the esophagus instead goes into the airway. This can cause food to enter the lungs and lead to pneumonia. If the paralysis progresses to the respiratory muscles, the patient cannot breathe properly, and the disease that leads to death from respiratory failure is Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The cause of ALS has not been clearly identified, and there are only various hypotheses. Since some ALS patients have been confirmed to have a mutation in a gene on chromosome 21, genetic factors are becoming the first hypothesis. In fact, eight genes have been found to be associated with ALS. However, these have only been found in a small number of ALS patients, so it cannot be said that they are a direct cause. Other hypotheses include the hypothesis that ALS is caused when cells are instructed to die on their own, the hypothesis that a virus causes ALS, and the hypothesis that toxins from a bad environment cause ALS. However, the exact cause has not yet been identified. Therefore, there is still no cure for ALS. However, the drug riluzole is the only drug approved for ALS, as it is believed to allow ALS patients to live for several more months. This is because sodium channels are involved in the activity of damaged motor neurons, and interfering with the activity of these sodium channels prolongs survival. However, it only slightly prolongs survival, and no therapeutic effect on the disease has yet been confirmed.
As the Ice Bucket Challenge spreads, many people are taking a renewed interest in ALS, and support for ALS patients continues. The reason for the Ice Bucket Challenge is that the muscle contraction of being hit with ice water is similar to the pain that ALS patients usually feel. It is good to play around and have fun while being drenched in ice water, but I hope that the event will serve as an opportunity to raise awareness of ALS and offer a helping hand in accordance with the original purpose of the event. I also hope that this event will lead to more active research into a cure for ALS, more funding for research, and ultimately the discovery of a way to cure the disease.
Continued interest and research into ALS is very important. Many scientists are working to find new treatments, and such research gives us hope that one day we will be able to completely conquer ALS. Therefore, we should all show interest and support for ALS patients. This includes not only simple donations and volunteer work, but also sharing the correct understanding and knowledge of ALS and participating in efforts to raise social awareness. If we work together, we will be able to overcome the terrible disease of ALS one day.
