British cosmologist, author and theoretical physicist, 71-year old Stephen Hawking is afflicted with Lou Gehrig’s disease since he was only 21. Last Tuesday he visited the stem cell laboratory at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The celebrated cosmologist and physicist had a tour of the facility, which is doing stem cell research that could slow down the progression of the effects of Lou Gehrig’s disease. So far, there is still no known cure for the disease, known scientifically as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. In fact, Hawking was given only two years to live when he was first diagnosed.
Even if Hawking is almost completely paralyzed and uses a specially-designed computer attached to his wheelchair to communicate as he had already lost his voice, the ever-optimistic and still very active physicist encouraged the staff, doctors and nurses of Cedars-Sinai to continue with their research. He also told them, in his speech, to continue exploring space, for knowing how space works gives people the chance to have control of it.
Stem cell research
Hawking is optimistic about the stem cell research being done at Cedars-Sinai. And why not? Very few people have lived past the ten-year prognosis for most ALS-afflicted patients. He was lucky to have round-the-clock treatment, his optimism and drive to conquer the disease and the support of his family and a very large community of friends, patrons and scientists.
Hawking has lived with the disease for 50 years. He said he was depressed when he was first diagnosed with the disease. It was good that the disease progressed very slowly for him and with enough encouragement he was able to finish his doctorate.
A former student of Hawking who was a patient at the medical center suggested that the eminent physicist be invited to see the facilities and the stem cell research laboratory, which is focused on stem cell engineering to find a protein that will prevent cell of ALS-afflicted victims from dying. So far the laboratory has made good progress doing their tests on mice. They are still waiting for approval from the government to move on to human subjects.
The stem cell research and study of ALS at Cedars-Sinai is funded by California taxpayers. Last year the government of California set aside $18 million to fund the research.
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