Former NFL Player Steve Gleason was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday January 15, 2020 for his advocacy for those fighting ALS. Gleason suffers from the disease and speaks with the assistance of a computer.
It’s hard to imagine any NFL player living a more profound post-football life than Steve Gleason, the former New Orleans Saints safety who in many ways has become the face of the fight against Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neurone disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a specific disease that causes the death of neurons controlling voluntary muscles. Some also use the term motor neuron disease for a group of conditions of which ALS is the most common.
Steve Gleason’s Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony
