News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Oliver Sacks on learning he has terminal cancer. Parent comment

Re:Oliver Sacks on learning he has terminal cancer by vetler on Thursday February 19, 2015 @02:44PM (#9076459)
My father died from complications from ALS last year, 70 years old - he was only diagnosed with it a few months before he died, although his first symptoms appeared a little over a year before that.

Having been spared from most terminal illnesses, it was surprising that such an unknown and fast working illness exsited. I knew people could get sick and die, but I always imagined it would be something more ... well known, like cancer. Or perhaps a stroke or heart attack.

That we still have illnesses that we know so little about is surprising. What makes ALS so special?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Oliver Sacks on learning he has terminal cancer by SoftwareMaven on Thursday February 19, 2015 @06:54PM (#9078021)
We don't understand the brain well, and we understand how to make changes to it even less (at a very minimum, the blood-brain barrier makes things very difficult). As a result, all neurodegenerative diseases are extremely troublesome to fight.
[ Parent | on HN ]