Yankees legend Lou Gehrig died 69 years ago from what was believed to be amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, where is when various cells in the brain and spinal column become slowly diseased and voluntary motor function becomes increasingly impaired. In fact, Gehrig was the first truly public face put on the ailment, hence how it came to be known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Turns out, there’s a good chance Lou Gehrig didn’t die of Lou Gehrig’s disease, according to a group of Boston researchers that will publish their findings Wednesday in the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology. While Gehrig is not mentioned specifically in the study [pdf], the findings highlight three cases, physiologically akin to Gehrig, in which people were diagnosed as having ALS but actually suffered from similar neurotrauma brought on by the long-term effects of concussions and other brain damage. It was the discovery of a higher concentration of “toxic proteins” in the spinal cord that signified a neurological condition similar in symptoms to ALS. As the study’s authors put it, “This is the first pathological evidence that repetitive head trauma experienced in collision sports might be associated with the development of a motor neuron disease.”
There is a well-established genetic link associated with contracting ALS; some estimates put the rate in these cases as high as 10 percent. How the other 90 percent get the disease has been open to debate, and although people can theoretically get ALS at any age, most start showing symptoms over the age of 50, lending credence to its long-time connection with violent sports like boxing and football. In the United States, 15 people are diagnosed with ALS every day.
As for Gehrig, there will be no way to concretely confirm whether he, in fact, had ALS or some other, severe neurological condition brought on by repeated hits to the head. Gehrig did attend Columbia University on a football scholarship before embarking one of the greatest baseball careers ever. The Iron Horse, as he was known, played in 2,130 consecutive games over a 14-year period, and suffered several notable blows to the head and neck area. Considering he retired 32 years before Major League Baseball made helmets mandatory for all batters, it’s a good bet to explain his decreased motor function as he quickly succumbed to the disease, as he died barely two years after his final game in May 1939.
But whether Gehrig died of “his” condition or something similar, we’ll likely never know for sure.
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This would pretty much be the textbook definition of irony if true eh?
