Fatal disease

Over time, ALS robs patients of the ability to walk, speak, and even breathe independently.

ALS “often begins with muscle twitching and weakness in an arm or leg, trouble swallowing or slurred speech,” the Mayo Clinic explains. “Eventually ALS affects control of the muscles needed to move, speak, eat and breathe. There is no cure for this fatal disease.”

While survival time varies, the disease has taken the lives of many high-profile figures, including actress Sandra Bullock’s longtime partner Bryan Randall in 2023 and SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg in 2018.

One of the most well-known people to live with ALS was physicist Stephen Hawking, who defied the odds by surviving more than five decades before his death in 2018.