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Can hope ever be a form of medicine?
A drug rejected by the FDA captures the tension that arises when terminally ill patients look to doctors for help.
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A diagnosis of ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, begins a race against the clock.
PHOTO: PEXELS
Daniela J. Lamas
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Of all the ways the body can go wrong, ALS is one of the most frightening. It begins subtly – a twitching muscle, a cough when you swallow or a clumsy hand. But then it progresses. Motor neurons degenerate and die. You lose the ability to talk, to eat, and ultimately to breathe. There is no cure. Treatment will slow progression somewhat, but not enough.
A diagnosis of ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, begins a race against the clock. What do you do to make yourself heard before you are rendered voiceless? How do you find a trial or a treatment to extend time long enough to be there for the next scientific advance?
