The end of the year is a time to look back, but also an opportunity to look forward. As 2024 comes to a close, we remain energized by the gains made for people living with ALS, their families and caregivers, and are excited about 2025 and even more progress.

No doubt, 2024 was a busy year for many in the ALS community. From exciting updates on ALS research and advocacy, to vital information about caring for people living with ALS and inspiring stories from around the nation, our blog covered it all this year.

Here is a quick look at the top ten posts you enjoyed most:

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1. Let’s See New Treatments—Prior to the Ice Bucket Challenge, there was only one available treatment option for people living with ALS. But in the last 10 years, we have seen an influx of researchers and companies striving to discover new treatments and cures for ALS. The result of these efforts has been six FDA approvals for new drugs and new drug formulations, with more promising treatments in the pipeline.
    
2. Can Genetics Help Explain Rare ALS Reversals?—ALS reversals, where someone with a confirmed ALS diagnosis recovers significant lost motor function, are rare. But finding out the reasons behind them could hold a key to unlocking new ways to halt, or even reverse, the progression of ALS. Learn more about a new discovery and what it could mean for the ALS community.
    
3. Shelby Kinsey: “I have ALS, ALS does not have me!”—Shelby Kinsey graduated from college in December 2022 and took a job working at a bank while she figured out what she “wanted to be when she grew up.” Ironically, she fell in love with the industry and decided to pursue a master’s degree in finance. Until ALS came along. But that hasn’t stopped her from advocating for others in the ALS community.
    
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4. Living with ALS, “Right Here, Right Now”—When Jules and Maria started a podcast in 2019 to tell their story it wasn’t about ALS. But even though Jules’ ALS diagnosis in 2020 would change that, their story is still about so much more—including life, love, family, and even comedy.
    
5. ALS Association Supports the Development of Four New Therapies with 2023 Clinical Trial Awards—There is an urgent need for new and improved therapies for ALS. To help accelerate drug development and get promising treatments one step closer to regulatory evaluation, we have committed nearly $4 million to support four early-stage clinical trials through our Hoffman ALS Clinical Trial Awards.
    
6. Join Us at ALS Nexus—In 2024, ALS Nexus brought together the perspectives of the ALS community to connect, collaborate, and change the future of ALS. It was more than a conference—it was an opportunity to spark new ideas and accelerate progress towards our goal of making ALS a livable disease until we can cure it. And it is back for 2025.
    
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7. Brooke Eby: An ALS Hero—Brooke Eby is funny, and she knows it. She freely admits that her default mechanism for approaching just about anything in life is to make jokes about it, including about having ALS. Sharing her sense of the absurd is part of how she attacks ALS head-on, driving awareness through her large and ever-growing social media channels.
    
8. Nutritional Considerations in ALS—It’s a bit of an overstatement to say, “you are what you eat,” but there really is quite a bit of truth to it. The fact is, nutrition affects us all, regardless of our age or health status. ALS presents its own set of nutritional challenges that must be addressed when considering what makes up a healthy diet, and these challenges change as the disease progresses.
    
9. Feeding Tubes: 10 Things to Know—In most people’s journey with ALS, they will be confronted with the decision of using a feeding tube to help maintain proper nutrition and enhance their quality of life. As part of the ALS care planning process, people with ALS should discuss the various options with their multidisciplinary care team, weigh the pros and cons, and understand how their decision may impact their overall health.
    
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10. Dancing with ALS: Breanna’s Story—Casey and his sister Breanna started ballet dancing when they were young, and both pursued dancing professionally, at least for a while. But when Breanna learned she had ALS they decided they needed one last dance, together.

As the calendar turns to 2025, we hope you’ll continue to follow along as we fight against ALS and work to make the disease livable for everyone, everywhere, until we can cure it. Learn more about how you can get involved today.

To continue to follow stories about people living with ALS in the community and learn more about the disease, subscribe to receive our weekly blogs in your inbox HERE or follow us at als.org/blog.

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