Being diagnosed with ALS can seem overwhelming. It’s completely natural to feel shocked, scared, sad, angry and a long list of other emotions. Along with allowing yourself to feel all of those emotions, it’s important to take steps to accept and learn about your diagnosis and begin living life with ALS. But what should you do? Where should you start? Learn more.
Tommy May, a member of The ALS Association National Board of Trustees, published a column in Morning Consult, a leading digital media platform among lawmakers, today urging Congress to protect access to noninvasive ventilators. May was diagnosed with ALS in 2005. He has used a ventilator since 2013 when his disease progression made it difficult for him to breathe on his own.
I was diagnosed with ALS in January 2014, at the age of 53. I was an oncology nurse for 32 years and had just completed my master’s degree in nursing and passed the boards to become a nurse practitioner when I was diagnosed. Being a nurse practitioner had always been a dream of mine, but I was unable to use my master’s degree at all because of ALS.
In the July 13, 2017 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, leaders in the ALS field, Drs. Robert Brown of University of Massachusetts Medical School and Dr. Ammar Al-Chalabi of King’s College London, came together to write a comprehensive ALS review.
Following Amylyx’s announcement that it intends to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) for AMX0035, The ALS Association today urges the Food and Drug Administration to approve the treatment for all people with ALS as soon as possible.
Doug Clough is a fearless ALS advocate from Gilbert, Ariz., who has made it his mission to make a huge impact on people living with ALS. Despite his ALS diagnosis in April 2014, he keeps going. He is involved in ALS advocacy in every way possible, from participating in The ALS Association National Advocacy Day to serving on the National ALS Registry task force to becoming a Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS) Research Ambassador to participating in an ALS clinical trial, and this year being awarded the Iron Horse Award.
In a study funded in part by The ALS Association’s TREAT ALS program, researchers from Northwestern University have identified the first compound (NU-9) that eliminates the ongoing degeneration of diseased upper motor neurons, a key contributor to ALS. While this news is exciting, this study has only tested the compound in mice and in laboratory neurons and is in the very early stages.
My husband's ALS diagnosis didn’t explain the symptoms I was seeing. I searched the internet late at night and concluded that he also had Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD). Symptoms of FTD include a loss of empathy and executive function, an increase in inappropriate actions, a lack of judgement and inhibition.