Henry Louis Gehrig is not only known as baseball player anymore. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig's disease is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement.
Persons with ALS have a loss of muscle strength and coordination that eventually gets worse. This eventually makes one unable to do routine tasks such as going up steps, getting out of a chair, or swallowing. Breathing or swallowing muscles may be the first muscles affected. As the disease gets worse, more muscle groups develop problems.
ALS does not affect the senses (sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch), bladder or bowel function, or a person's ability to think or reason.
Symptoms usually do not develop until after age 50 but my 35 year old uncle Jabbar Kelley McCabe & 37 year old Retired Minnesota Viking Orlando Thomas are the uncommon are suffering from it now.
There is no known cure for ALS. The first drug treatment for the disease is a medicine called riluzole. Riluzole may prolong life, but does not reverse or stop the disease from getting worse.
There is progressive loss of ability to function or care for oneself. Death often occurs within 3 to 5 years of diagnosis, about 20% of patients survive more than 5 years after diagnosis.
Orlando Thomas or affectionately known as O.T. by close friends and family played his entire career for the Vikings as a Defensive Back from 1995-2001. Thomas once weighed 225 pounds during his playing career. He was a second-round draft pick in 1995. He started 87 of 98 games for the Vikings, intercepting 22 passes along the way, before retiring following the 2001 season.
O.T. announced in June 2007 that he was suffering from Lou Gehrig’s. O.T. has been married to my friend Demetra for 11 years. Demetra is a God fearing, Dedicated, Wife, Mother & Full Time Nurse.
Demetra and I are high school friends, we not only share youth memories, but we share the Vikings NFL wife experience via our Louisiana men as well. Countless sleep-overs, gatherings, away games & parties at the Thomas' former home in Eden Prairie, MN.
This Disease doesn’t discriminate, and has hit home for me twice. Keep Former “Vikings Angel” Orlando Thomas & my uncle Jabbar Kelley in your prayers.
"O" The Touring Empress
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