How Stephen Hawking Beat ALS, Stumped Doctors

Renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking died yesterday at the age of 76, proving all theories on ALS, (Hawking's degenerative condition) on his lifespan, wrong. The famous theoretical physicist's pioneering work in unraveling the mysteries of the universe, his celebrated theories about the mysterious black holes and quantum gravity, earned him a place in the front-ranking scientists of the world . However, he was restricted to a wheelchair for much of his time in the public spectrum, by a form of the motor-neuron disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). And since 1985 he has had to speak through a speech-generating device, (provided by Intel) which he operated with his cheek while having round-the-clock nursing care.

Overcoming the odds of an unnerving diagnosis by nearly half a century, Hawking continued to mystify doctors as to how he beat the odds and lived for so long with this rare disease. Hawking was diagnosed with the disease when he was 21 years old.
"His lifespan is exceptional. I think there are few of them. I certainly don't know of any others that have had such a long lifespan. The Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) or motor neuron disease — can kill someone within a few months of diagnosis, and there's only a 10% chance patients live more than a decade," said Dr. Lucie Bruijn, chief scientist of the ALS Association.

Hawking had quite an active mind, and some statements indicate that he had a pretty positive mental outlook, despite his condition. But there is no evidence that lifestyle and psychological well-being did much to help with his extraordinary outcomes.
According to Dr. Brujin, some medical experts have suggested Hawking lived so long because he developed the disease so early in his life, a theory yet to be proven.
“Hawking’s case is an incredible example of the variability of the disease and the hope for patients who have it that they could also live a long life. Unfortunately, it's a small percentage of people for whom that actually happens,“ said Leo McCluskey, an Associate Professor of Neurology and medical director of the ALS Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Other experts from the ALS Association also seem to be unsure on Hawking’s miracle lifespan despite the disease. The doctors said, "Among people in their 50s and 60s, there is a 50% chance of surviving four years or so. It is a different beast if you start young, oddly, and no one knows why. We have found that the survival in younger patients is strikingly better and is measured in many years in some cases more than 10."

In the final analysis, Stephen Hawking, proved to be a mystery in death, as in life, to the world of medicine.