By the 1938 season, Gehrig’s strength on the field seemed to diminish. Little did he know he was suffering from the beginning stages of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Messages are sent from the brain to the nerves and are received by the muscles. Those who have ALS have nerves that die and therefore the muscles do not receive the messages from the brain. One by one, bodily functions shut down and muscles waste away. By the time Lou Gehrig became sick, there had been little to no research done since its discovery. Many doctors had never even heard of the disease let alone treated it. To this day there is no cure.