Does Hawking Really Have ALS?

Factual Questions
1

A current thread is discussing Stephen Hawking vis a vis Einstein’s intelligence, and one post said that it is astonishing that he has lived as long as he has with his disease, presumably meaning amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease).

I could have posted this in that thread, but this is a separate question. (Besides, I haven’t started a thread in a long time. :D) No one has lived as long as Hawking has with ALS. True, with modern devices, such as the artificial lung, etc., people with ALS can be expected to live longer than Gehrig, but no one has lived as long as Hawking with ALS.

IANAMD, but there are a lot of neurological diseases. Isn’t it possible that he has one not yet known? Or one known but not realized that this is what he has?

2

I am no expert in neurology, but that won’t stop me from opening my mouth.

I believe Hawking does in fact have ALS. It is conceivable that he has a “benign” variant but even with “typical” ALS there is an 8 percent ten year survival.

One reason that he’s survived so long is that he has chosen to have mechanical ventilation. Given that respiratory failure is the cause of death in essentially all those afflicted with ALS, once you’ve prevented that (with mechanical ventilation) you can go on for a long, long time.