Robert E. Lee Junior High School

Henry Steele III

Robert E. Lee Junior High School

Monroe, LA

First Place

“Luckiest Man Alive”

Most people know ALS as a challenge to pour a bucket of ice water on their heads. People do not realize that it is actually a disease that traps you inside your body. One man, Lou Gehrig, was diagnosed with ALS while he was achieving his record-setting career for baseball. While he had the dreadful disease, he still considered himself to be “The Luckiest Man Alive.” Lou Gehrig considered himself “The Luckiest Man Alive” because he appreciated the opportunities and what he was given even though he still had this illness.

A nickname that Lou Gehrig became known as was “Iron Horse.” He earned this name after playing 2,130 games straight in a fifteen-year span. ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, which is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the spinal cord and brain nerve cells. This disease almost freezes your body to where you cannot move and it is almost as if you are trapped inside of your body. This is why we have the Ice Bucket Challenge, because you are supposed to feel what an ALS patient feels during those couple of seconds. You are then supposed to donate money to ALS.

There is a long list of reasons that Lou Gehrig considers himself “The Luckiest Man Alive.” He thought of himself to be “The Luckiest Man Alive” because he had what he believed was the best wife on the planet. He considered himself to be “The Luckiest Man Alive” because he had, in his opinion, the best manager in the game of baseball. He thought of himself to be “The Luckiest Man Alive” because he had been able to come and go to ballparks for many years. He considered himself “The Luckiest Man Alive” because he was able to have a record-setting career and be diagnosed with ALS all in the same year. There are many reasons that Lou Gehrig considered himself to be the luckiest man alive, and these are just a few.

In conclusion, Lou Gehrig actually can think of himself to be “The Luckiest Man Alive,” because if you have one of your best years in baseball and be diagnosed with a heart-wrenching disease such as ALS, then you truly are something. He was able to have this huge burden on his mind while playing those last few years of baseball and still perform with greatness. Lastly, he had people that cared enough to take care of him while he was ill with this disease. This is why Lou Gehrig considered himself to be “The Luckiest Man Alive.”