The Disease of Muhammad Ali and the cause of death

If you look at the statistics, you can see that more than four million people are suffering from Parkinson's disease. Among them can be like an ordinary elderly woman, whom we meet on the way to the bakery, and the famous person that the whole planet knows. The history of fighting this disease of celebrities is an example of how not to give up in such a situation and try to prolong the active life. The illness of Muhammad Ali was a hard test for him, but the world-famous boxer did not think to stop fighting the disease.

Childhood

The future great boxer was born on January 17, 1942 in Kentucky, Louisville, his mother was a housewife Odessa Clay. His name was given in honor of his father, who by profession was an artist. So the boy became Cassius the youngest. Two years later his younger brother Rudolph was born. Having matured, both boys will take pseudonyms: the elder - Muhammad Ali, the youngest - Rahman Ali.

Their friendly family never treated the needy, although, of course, the white population lived an order of magnitude better. My father painted signs, my mother sometimes moonlighted, cleaning the homes of wealthy people. Parents even managed to save money for a decent cottage.

In the years of Cassius' childhood, America existed in an atmosphere of inequality. The boy did not understand why black people are considered second-class people. The father, for his part, often showed his sons photos of a teenager who was brutally murdered by whites. They were found, but not punished. And my mother was proud of her white grandfather-Irish.

The first steps in boxing

Once a 12-year-old Clay was stolen a bicycle, which he loved very much. The boy decided to beat the offending guys. But the white policeman Joe Martin, who was in parallel with this work, was a boxing trainer, said that first you need to learn how to fight, and then someone must be beaten. So began training Cassius, who took on them and his younger brother.

It was hard to work with Cassius: he often and heavily bullied other boxers, without stopping, shouting that the best athlete is he and only him. But so far no one coach could not consider in the guy a special potential. Everything changed the first battle, which took place just a month and a half after the arrival of Cassius in the section. The boy liked that this duel was broadcast on television. Despite the fact that Cassius was a rookie, he won against a white opponent. After the end of the battle, overjoyed, he shouted at the camera that soon he would become a great boxer. From the first victory, the boy's serious work on himself began.

Sports career of the great boxer

These were the years when Muhammad Ali's illness had not yet captured his body. He was only fourteen when, in 1956, he won the Golden Gloves tournament. This was a great start to his career. By the day of graduation, the young man won 100 fights and received only 8 defeats.

Gradually began to manifest the corporate style of the boxer. He seemed to be dancing near the enemy, dodging his blow. At the Olympics, Muhammad Ali defeated Zbigniew Pieszikowski, earning a gold medal. In professional boxing, he came in late October 1960 after a fight with Tanni Hanseker, which ended in victory for Ali.

In order to begin work with the new coach, Cassius Clay moved to Miami. The coach managed to find an approach to the boxer with a difficult character: he did not try to control Clay, but respected and directed him. In 1962, in just six months, the young boxer won five wins by knockout.

The illness of Muhammad Ali has not yet manifested itself in the mighty body of an athlete. He was strong and invincible. It was quite serious and difficult to fight with Liston, but after the victory Muhammad Ali achieved the title of world heavyweight champion. Later he earned the title of boxer of the century. And in the early 90's Ali got into the International Boxing Hall of Fame to remain a sport legend for many years.

Boxers and Parkinson's Disease

To date, scientists have not been able to understand why changes in the brain develop, which subsequently lead to Parkinson's disease. But it is known: there is a direct connection between traumatic brain damage and the gradual development of motor pathology. If a person had a head injury, the risk of this disease is about four times higher than those of people who had no such damage.

Most often, chronic injuries to the skull are given to boxers. Doctors say that parkinsonism is dangerous for both professional athletes and amateurs, because during the battle there is not enough protection. From each blow to the head, there is a microcrack, which leads to structural lesions of the brain substance.

According to statistics, more than half of boxers suffer from brain damage. But the first symptoms remain invisible for the boxers themselves, and for their relatives. First there is a memory disorder, a tremor, coordination is disturbed. This can last several months and even several years.

Unfortunately, the number of cases included boxer Muhammad Ali. The reason for his illness was connected with such injuries, which were received for many years in battles in the ring. All his battles were equally complex and did not rule out blows to the head. And every touch of the fist of the enemy against Ali's head brought him closer to the onset of the disease.

Parkinson's disease and Muhammad Ali

The most famous patient with parkinsonism was Muhammad Ali. Parkinson's disease Overtook him three decades ago, but he fought courageously with her, as an example for the rest of the sick and their hands-down relatives. For the boxer, fighting the disease became the meaning of his life.

This battle, he began many years before the end of his sports career. He was diagnosed in 1984. His last fights in the ring, he spent, already being not quite healthy. And 13 years later, in 1997, Muhammad Ali's illness did not stop him from opening the first center, where he was treated with movement disorders.

His work has now become a thorough study of the mechanism of the development of the disease, as well as all sorts of developments aimed at slowing the progression of this serious disease. Workers of this center tried to improve the social adaptation of patients with this diagnosis, to change the attitude of healthy people to the disease.

Charity

Today there are several funds and centers that deal with this disease.

Muhammad Ali helped organize annual charity events. The disease did not break this strong man. Thanks to charity, he managed to collect impressive amounts of money. Donations help develop the scientific activities of the funds, support and help patients with this disease. There are many different videos on which you can see how the famous boxer (Muhammad Ali's disease, a photo of which is often seen on the pages of glossy publications, has already progressed to this point) is struggling with the disease, trying independently to perform the simplest self-service activities.

The main battle

The boxer's daughter also tried to make her own contribution to the fact that people perceive this illness differently. She wrote a special book for young readers, in which she talked about the causes of the development of this disease, about how to correctly understand such people, about their daily life. And all this was done out of respect for his father, who always believed that the most important fight of his life was a fight with Parkinson's disease.

This was the greatest boxer of the twentieth century, Muhammad Ali. Now the disease does not affect the health of the famous boxer, because on June 3, 2016 his life was cut short.