{"id":2446,"date":"2018-02-05T17:03:56","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T22:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/vrooman\/?page_id=2446"},"modified":"2019-05-30T11:47:43","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T16:47:43","slug":"als","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/vrooman\/als\/","title":{"rendered":"ALS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"lou-gehrig-speech-650\"<\/a>National Baseball Hall of Fame<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/span> \u2013 Lou Gehrig<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Lou Gehrig\u2019s Disease<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Just after Christmas 2017 I was diagnosed with <\/span>Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis<\/span> (ALS)<\/a>, a rare neurological\u00a0disorder that damages nerves and systematically destroys muscle tissue. ALS<\/a>\u00a0is a neurodegenerative disease that eventually results in paralysis and death,\u00a0but the rate of progression varies from case to case. Currently, there is no cure for ALS<\/a> and no effective treatment to\u00a0stop or reverse the progression of what is\u00a0also known as\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Lou Gehrig’s<\/a> Disease<\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n

My early symptoms were the random firing of peripheral nerves and generalized muscle twitching (fasciculations) and cramping. I was also losing strength in my left hand and forearm and having trouble with simple everyday tasks like aiming laser pointers in class, turning keys, twisting beer caps, buttoning my Levis, and tying my shoes. I assumed the muscle\u00a0twitching\u00a0was from a correctable vitamin deficiency, and lower arm weakness\u00a0was the cumulative result of\u00a0old nerve damage (neuropathy) from my left forearm having been broken twice at the beginning and end of my high school and college football careers.<\/p>\n

\"SM<\/a>

SM v Dallas Jesuit – Age 16<\/p><\/div>\n

As a football player, I\u00a0suffered more than my share of concussions and\u00a0recurring blows to\u00a0my head and neck but this was back in the day<\/a> before anyone kept track of\u00a0cumulative brain damage through current symptom-treating concussion protocols<\/a>.\u00a0(Insert dumb-jock joke here).<\/em>\u00a0The\u00a0average life\u00a0expectancy with ALS is\u00a0only 3 years after diagnosis, but twenty percent of people with ALS live five\u00a0or more years, and 10 percent survive at least ten years. Most people who develop ALS are between ages of\u00a040\u00a0and\u00a070, with an average age of\u00a055. ALS\u00a0strikes only one in 50,000 people (insert 0.002% lottery joke here<\/em>), and while it is more common among white Anglo males who were former athletes<\/a> or<\/span> who served in the military<\/a>, there is still no known cause<\/a> <\/span>or unique diagnosis for Lou Gehrig’s Disease.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

My ALS diagnosis came by default after a seemingly endless series of blood tests, nerve tests (EMG<\/a>)<\/em>\u00a0and body scans (MRI<\/a>, CT<\/a>)<\/em> ordered by my primary care physician<\/a>\u00a0after\u00a0noticing muscle\u00a0loss (atrophy)\u00a0in my left hand. Ironically each successive negative test excluded one by one all of the treatable alternative causes for what the neurologists had labelled ideopathic\u00a0progressive neuropathy.<\/em>\u00a0The\u00a0problem was first thought to be a relatively common stenosis<\/a> of cervical vertebrae in my neck also aggravated by football injuries, but the underlying cause\u00a0ultimately proved to be ALS, a devastating disease that has no known cure.<\/a><\/p>\n

After taking medical leave for Spring 2018,\u00a0I have decided\u00a0to retire\u00a0from teaching\u2014way ahead of schedule. This ends an epic teaching run that extends two decades at Vandy<\/a>, and almost\u00a0three decades<\/a> before that.\u00a0I want to thank all of my former students who have made\u00a0our joint\u00a0contribution\u00a0to the new field of sports economics<\/a> so enjoyable and productive. I am still doing media interviews, occasionally consulting and always writing about sports economics. Please\u00a0check out my sports econ blog<\/a>\u00a0and theory (in progress) blog<\/a>\u00a0above.<\/p>\n

My first response to the VUMC neurologists<\/a> after their\u00a0grim ALS diagnosis was to jokingly quip that this basically meant that I was toast. Deep inside I just wanted to hide out and be left alone until I could clear the reality zone. My current and rapidly growing realization after interaction with my tough-love support\u00a0circle of Machi, Krissi, Harris and Driskill is that ALS does not define me now and it never will. I am a lucky man whose strength\u00a0comes from my relationships with family, friends and thousands of former students. ALS may attack and systematically shut down my body, but it cannot weaken my mind or my spirit<\/a>.\u00a0This relentless disease may have no cure, but it has no chance to defeat me. It will only make me stronger.<\/a><\/p>\n

This web-page will be continually updated with relevant media reports about\u00a0sports-related traumatic neurological injuries. (See the ALS links\u00a0at the bottom of the right side bar). I have declined consulting engagements in the past about NFL legal settlements<\/a> of traumatic concussion<\/a> and CTE<\/a>\u00a0related issues endemic to the NFL<\/a>, NCAA<\/a> and NHL<\/a>,\u00a0but I will reconsider them now from the players’ perspective<\/em>. I have given a few\u00a0media interviews<\/a> about the\u00a0uncertain future of the\u00a0mercenary NFL<\/a> and the epidemic brain injuries<\/a>\u00a0of its players<\/a>, but would like to invite more of them now. We\u00a0have long since passed\u00a0the\u00a0point where our beloved childhood games <\/a>are systematically disabling and killing\u00a0our\u00a0players\u2014ultimately for the money. We may not always control what happens to us, but we can at least control how we respond.<\/p>\n

Anchor down, this is going to be\u00a0a tough fight.<\/a>
\nDo not go gentle into that good night.<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

V<\/em><\/p>\n

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