CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Legendary Bears defensive tackle Steve "Mongo" McMichael, a member of the 1985 team that won the Super Bowl, has announced he has ALS.
A medical expert in the field talked Friday about the many mysteries still surrounding Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, which commonly is referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease for the baseball titan it felled.
At its most basic, ALS leads to the deterioration of nerves that control muscles, Dr. Robert Kalb of Northwestern Medicine.
“The reason that individuals with ALS typically get in trouble is because they have difficulty breathing and swallowing,” he said. “The nerve cells that connect to the diaphragm muscle, unfortunately, they undergo degeneration as well.”
The most serious issues arise when a patient loses the ability to eat or breathe.
There are treatments to slow the progression of ALS and help patients cope with loss of muscle control, but there is no cure, Kalb said.
Studies have suggested that elite athletes might have twice the risk of developing the disease. Even so, Kalb said, researchers are still trying to determine what causes ALS.
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