TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous scientists of modern times. His name is most closely associated with the black hole area theorem or black hole.
At the age of 21, Hawking was diagnosed with Amyothropic Lateral Sclerosis (Amyothropic Lateral Sclerosis).AS), a rare disease that attacks the nervous system in the brain and spinal cord. Signs of the disease began to appear in his third year at Oxford.
“I realized that I was becoming increasingly clumsy, and I fell once or twice for no apparent reason,” Hawking was quoted as saying on his official website.
Hawking finally underwent a series of tests after his father took him to a specialist. According to doctors, he is predicted to live 2 years. However, this prediction was broken because Hawking lived to the age of 76 years.
According to the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association, as reported by the British Medical Journal, the average ALS patient has a life expectancy of 14 months after diagnosis. Apart from Stephen Hawking, no one has survived this disease for so long.
“Stephen Hawking is an interesting case and neurologists always think about it,” said one neurologist.
Nigel Leigh, professor of clinical neurology at King’s College, London and director of King’s MND Care and Research Center said that people diagnosed with ALS at a young age like Hawking generally have a longer chance of living. In some cases, patients can survive for more than 10 years. However, no one knows for sure.
Leigh considered what happened to Hawking as something extraordinary. Not only was he able to last a long time, Leight was also impressed by the level of stabilization of the disease in Hawking’s body.
“In this case, MND started quite early, in your 20s or 30s. This kind of stabilization is very rare,” he said.
When asked why the condition develops differently, Hawking said he believes motor neuron disease is a syndrome that can have different causes. The case may be due to poor vitamin absorption.
Hawking then supplemented his diet with various vitamin and mineral tablets, starting from zinc, cod liver oil, folic acid, vitamin B complex, vitamin B-12, vitamin C and vitamin E. He also followed a gluten-free diet and vegetable oil. In addition, Hawking received medical treatment in the form of passive chest physiotherapy as well as passive and active physiotherapy for all limbs and muscle groups.
In 1965, Hawking married Jane Wilde. From this marriage, he was blessed with three children. His condition continued to deteriorate but he managed to overcome it thanks to the help of his wife and students.
In 1985, Hawking lost the ability to speak after undergoing a tracheostomy. Hearing this, the computer expert Walt Woltosz sent a computer program that he made himself. The program allows Hawking to select words from a series of on-screen menus, making it easier for him to communicate.
Even though he had to endure ALS for most of his adult life, that didn’t stop Stephen Hawking from starting a home and being successful at work. “I was lucky because my condition developed more slowly than it often does. This shows that one should not lose hope,” he said.
Stephen Hawking died on Wednesday, March 14 2018. The sad news was conveyed by the family, Stephen died at the age of 74 at his residence in Cambridge, English.
SITI NUR RAHMAWATI
Read: Stephen Hawking Dies, Sherina Munaf Immediately Reads Her Book
Always update the latest information. Watch breaking news and selected news from Tempo.co on the Telegram channel “Tempo.co Update”. Click https://t.me/tempodotcoupdate to join. You need to install the Telegram application first.
– .
