Striking out brain, nerve, and muscle disorders
On behalf of the Diamond Awards committee and our partners—the Twin Cities Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA), the Minnesota Twins, and University of Minnesota research teams—thank you for your support. With your help, the University of Minnesota will advance research and continue to build our all-star team of world-renowned doctors and researchers who are working to strike out ataxia, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS.
Please take a moment to learn about each of these diseases.
Ataxia
Ataxia is a progressive neurological condition that robs its victims of their ability to make coordinated movements, often with fatal consequences. Walking, talking, holding objects, making eye contact, even swallowing, become monumental and, eventually, insurmountable tasks. Determined researchers at the University of Minnesota are emerging as world leaders in the fight to treat, cure, and prevent ataxia.
Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system. It disrupts communication between nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing impairment in cognition, movement, sensation, and other functions, depending on which nerves are impaired.
Muscular dystrophy
Muscular dystrophy is a broad term that describes a genetic disorder of the muscles characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue. In some forms of muscular dystrophy, cardiac and smooth muscles are affected.
Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, progressive illness that results when there is premature loss of nerve cells in a part of the midbrain. These nerve cells produce dopamine, an important chemical messenger that transmits signals that allow for coordinated movement. Parkinson’s is the second most common neurodegenerative disease.
ALS
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is a neurological disorder also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, after the star first-baseman who died of ALS in 1941. ALS paralyzes all muscles by gradually destroying nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control movement, but other brain functions remain intact. Consequently, tactile sensation, vision, hearing, memory, and cognition are normal throughout the course of ALS.
