Aug. 22, 2014

The Missouri Women's Basketball Staff took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge this week to help spread awareness about the disease. ALS is short for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and is often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease." ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed. If you would like to donate to the ALS Foundation, please visit www.alsa.org.