Stem cells may offer new course of treatment for ALS

ROCHESTER, MN (KARE/NBC) - Seventy-five years ago, Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with the rare, neurological disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis at the Mayo Clinic.

On July 4, 1939, he gave his famous farewell speech to baseball fans.

Doctors now have a better understanding of the fatal disease, but apart from medication that may give someone an extra couple of months, there is still no good way to extend someone's life.

Mayo Clinic researchers are working with stem cells to develop a new treatment. A New Brighton woman hopes to benefit.

Linda Leight spends every minute she can with her eight grandchildren. They visit her often at her home.

Time with grandchildren is always precious, but even more so for her because just like baseball legend Gehrig, Leight has ALS.

The disease has slowed her speech.

She has enrolled in a Mayo Clinic study that is testing the safety of taking stem cells and injecting them into a patient's spinal fluid.

"My hope is that I could gain some time," she said.

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Stem cells may offer new course of treatment for ALS