Gehrig S Disease

WASHINGTON -- Wilson Krahnke, 60, of Bethesda, a businessman all his life, trod down First Street in the nation's capital in dark suit and starched shirt. Under his arm he carried the day's Wall Street Journal.The last time he visited the Hart Senate Office Building, he did so to inspect the accounting and financial systems there underpinning his company's food service contract. If political things were going on, he ignored them -- that was his wife's bailiwick.Personally, though Krahnke always volunteered for church and civic groups, he found politics abominable.

WASHINGTON -- Statistics and probabilities can be puzzling, even paradoxical, as the man knew who wrote:Very, very, very fewPeople die at ninety-two.I suppose that I shall beSafer still at ninety-three.Another example: In the movie ''Fathers' Day,'' Billy Crystal wants Robin Williams to facilitate a deception by pretending to cry. Mr. Crystal suggests that Williams imagine that he is a tragic hero like Lou Gehrig. Mr. Williams asks, ''Who's that?''Mr. Crystal, dumbfounded, says, ''Everybody knows Lou Gehrig -- the baseball player, he died of Lou Gehrig's disease.

LINCOLN, R.I. -- The German television crew has left. Ted Koppel may call at any moment. And the nun is late.Noel David Earley can't remember the nun's name, or where she is from, but she sounded nice on the telephone. He still plans to kill himself -- the nun had no more success talking him out of it than had other callers -- but there was a sweetness about her. When she asked to visit, he agreed.So everyone's waiting -- a documentary film producer working for "Nightline"; a reporter and photographer from the Providence Journal-Bulletin; a reporter from The Sun.This has the promise of a good scene.

Mike McGlinchey calls it "the toughest decision I've ever made in my life," but it was one that he couldn't put off any longer.With his health failing and his football team at Frostburg State struggling, McGlinchey met with his players last Thursday and told them he would relinquish his duties as coach after this season.McGlinchey, 50, said he decided to resign at the beginning of the season, his fourth at Frostburg, but had planned on waiting until after the final game to make the announcement.

Andrew Mattingly Jackson Jr. whirs his three-wheeled electric cart into a paneled dining room in a nursing home in Silver Spring, hurrying to join a gathering of his relatives.Waiting for him is John Philip Mattingly, a resident of the home. He nudges his right hand against the control stick of his electric wheelchair, spinning to greet Mr. Jackson face to face. One by one, the rest arrive: Anna Mae in her wheelchair; Jay with his cane and plastic ankle braces; Bonnie and then Janet, both with a telltale hesitation in their step.

Of all the CALebrations last week, none was more touching than the creation of a Cal Ripken Jr./Lou Gehrig Fund to finance research at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions on the degenerate nerve disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, that killed the legendary Yankee player more than half a century ago. The Orioles under owner Peter Angelos conceived the plan to sell 260 field-level seats at $5,000 apiece to raise $1.3 million. Then the baseball club promised to kick in another $700,000 to push the fund to the $2 million mark.

The man outplayed the hype.Somehow, he stood above the onslaught of celebrity and circus. For 14 years, he danced beyond the spikes, survived the brawls, the slippery shower room floors and all the other freaky things that force the best of us to the bench.Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr. claimed his laurel Thursday night, appropriating the record for baseball games played consecutively: 2,131 as of that moment.He claimed it almost apologetically from Lou Gehrig, the New York Yankees first baseman whose record of 2,130 straight games ended 56 years ago with the onset of a fatal nerve disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

During their coverage of Cal Ripken's record-breaking consecutive-game streak, the media constantly referred to Lou Gehrig's disease. I would like to know more about that disease.Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, the medical term for Lou Gehrig's disease, is a relentlessly progressive disorder caused by deterioration of the motor nerves (nerves that control the action of muscles) in both the brain and spinal cord. The first manifestations are typically weakness and clumsiness of one or both hands; but the symptoms may begin in almost any muscle, and most muscles are affected as the disease worsens.

FROSTBURG -- He was given a plaque and a couple of warm hugs that cut through the chilled air. Otherwise, it was business as usual for Mike McGlinchey on Saturday. Only the game mattered. Sentiment would have to wait.This was the last home game for McGlinchey, 50, coach of Frostburg State's football team. The neural muscular disorder that began attacking his body almost six years ago has drained much of his strength, distorted his speech and left him barely able to lift his arms from his side.

There's much more to Cal Ripken Jr. establishing baseball's new longevity streak than merely having his name placed ahead of Lou Gehrig in the cold-type pages of the record book. An immediate kinship has been formed that promises to be a continuing benefit to humanity, far exceeding the importance of the number of games either man played.It's a momentous philanthropic arrangement that already has resulted in Ripken, by his catalyst actions, providing $2 million to Johns Hopkins Hospital with the hope a cure can be advanced for eliminating the baffling disease that proved fatal to Gehrig more than a half-century ago.This becomes an enormous sports achievement and humane deed, all in one, that sets itself apart -- an athlete utilizing his own physical accomplishments to help those beset with the same illness that took Gehrig in 1941.

The person considered the strongest Raven by coach John Harbaugh received the game ball after Saturday's AFC divisional playoff victory over the Tennessee Titans in Nashville, even though he didn't take a snap or put on a uniform. In the victorious locker room at LP Field, Pro Bowl safety Ed Reed handed the ball to O.J. Brigance, the Ravens' director of player development, saying, "This is for you." Brigance expressed thanks from the motorized wheelchair that he uses as he battles Lou Gehrig's disease, then added, "but we've got two more to play."

The first time he fell, Army Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Averella was strolling on a military base in Afghanistan. He got up, collected himself and brushed aside the concerns of fellow soldiers. Within months, Averella was stumbling regularly, and his hands began inexplicably clenching into fists. At first, tests revealed nothing. Three years ago, the Maryland soldier found out what was afflicting him: Lou Gehrig's disease. Once an intense weightlifter, Averella is now bedridden at his Glen Burnie apartment, every part of him dying but his mind.

O.J. Brigance remembers the 2001 Super Bowl like it was yesterday, when he charged down the field for the Ravens and collided with a kick returner for the first tackle of the game. Now, everyday activities like eating are as challenging as his old workouts. Picking up a fork these days feels like lifting more than a hundred pounds of weights. Brigance, 38, was diagnosed in May 2007 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, a progressive and fatal disease that shuts down nerve cells responsible for movement.

I cannot take statin-type drugs. Is there a natural way to get triglycerides down? Triglycerides have just been shown to increase the risk of heart attacks (Journal of the American Medical Association, July 18). Fish oil is a natural way to lower this risk factor for heart disease. I have been fascinated with letters from people reporting that Lipitor weakened their muscles. I believe Lipitor triggered my ALS. Until last month, my doctors wouldn't listen to me, but then a report from the World Health Organization showed a link.

Ralph V. Mitzel, a retired Pennsylvania Railroad freight conductor and woodworker, died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - Lou Gehrig's disease - Wednesday at a daughter's home in Crestview, Fla. He was 88 and formerly a longtime Hampden resident. Mr. Mitzel was born in Baltimore into a family of railroaders and raised on Keswick Road in Hampden. His father had been president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and an older brother had been a Pennsy passenger conductor. Mr. Mitzel attended City College, and in 1933 was hired by the railroad.

A common antibiotic used to treat skin and lung infections may prolong the lives and ease the symptoms of patients with Lou Gehrig's disease and other neurological ailments, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. Scientists from the Hopkins medical school reported in the journal Nature this week that injections of ceftriaxone increased survival rates of mice genetically engineered with Lou Gehrig's disease, known scientifically as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The prescription drug also delayed the nerve damage and loss of muscle function that are common symptoms of ALS. Although results with laboratory animals are often difficult to duplicate in humans, the findings indicate that ceftriaxone contains some ingredient with the potential to treat not only ALS, but also other neurological disorders, including dementia and epilepsy, the researchers say. "What it means is, there's a whole class of drugs out there that we may be able to use in new ways," said Dr. Jeffrey Rothstein, lead author of the paper.

Ruxton Pharmaceuticals, a local bioscience start-up focusing chiefly on finding a treatment for Lou Gehrig's disease, has secured $5.2 million in a first round of private funding, including $1.7 million from venture capital giant New Enterprise Associates, Ruxton and NEA announced yesterday. At a time when the Baltimore region is working to build up its biotech sector, executives say yesterday's deal underscore's the area's bioscience strengths: Ruxton will be locally based and has licensed technology developed by a prominent Johns Hopkins researcher, while the Menlo Park, Calif.

Peggy Lou Compton, a retired Social Security Administration employee and avid traveler, died Wednesday of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis --Lou Gehrig's disease -- at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. She was 67. Born in Parkersburg, W.Va., the former Peggy Lou Barringer was raised in Akron, Ohio, where she graduated from high school in 1954. She married Gary Compton in 1959, and they moved to the Baltimore area in 1967. They lived in Ellicott City for 15 years. The marriage ended in divorce.

Elaine G. Weinstein, a homemaker and artist, died of Lou Gehrig's disease -- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- June 21 at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Stevenson resident was 79. Born Elaine G. Cohen in Baltimore and raised on Forest Park Avenue, she was a 1943 graduate of Forest Park High School. After earning a degree in early childhood education from Goucher College in 1946, she taught at Arlington Elementary School on West Rogers Avenue from 1948 to 1950. In 1945, she married Dr. Frederick Weinstein, a now-retired Baltimore dentist.

Laurie Smullin Russell, a nurse and former hospital official whose extensive volunteer activities extended to fund raising for research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis after she was found to have the illness nearly four years ago, died Monday at her Glyndon home. She was 58. A fund-raiser professionally as assistant director of development at Union Memorial Hospital, Mrs. Russell volunteered her skills for other civic and cultural organizations. After she was found to have the illness known as Lou Gehrig's disease in August 2000, she became involved in the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins Medicine.