Börje Salming, 71, has suffered from ALS.
“I have received news that has shaken the life of me and my family,” says the ice hockey legend in a statement to TT.
It was in May that Börje Salming said in an interview with Expressen that, among other things, he had found it difficult to speak, but the state of the illness was unclear.
Now the ice hockey legend has learned that he has suffered from the nerve disease ALS.
“I don’t know how the days ahead will be, but I understand that there will be trials greater than what I have ever faced. It is a disease that currently has no cure, but I know that research is going on all over the world, and one day science will find a solution. Right now I have to rely on medications that slow down the process,” he tells the news agency.
In the player above: See when the hockey legend visited Nyhetsmorgon a year ago to talk about his life becoming a TV series.
ALS is a disease that causes the arms and legs to become increasingly paralyzed. The ability to speak and swallow is also affected in many people. There is no cure for ALS, but there are drugs that relieve some of the symptoms.
ALS is a serious but rare disease. Every year, roughly 200 people in Sweden get the disease, and most are between 50 and 70 years old.
The disease breaks down the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that regulate the voluntarily controlled muscles. This effect on the nerve cells then spreads through the nervous system.
ALS can be detected by the weakening of various body parts. In the end, the body is completely paralyzed and when the respiratory muscles are affected, it is no longer possible to breathe.
Most people with ALS die within two to four years of being diagnosed. But approximately one in ten lives significantly longer. They then have a significantly slower development of the disease.
Source: 1177