Rarecast

Raziel Green lost both her mother and aunt to the rare neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. But when Green, a runner, began experiencing muscle weakness and falls, doctors failed to recognize that she had a genetic form of the condition. Two years after she first sought care, she was diagnosed with the SOD1 form of the disease and enrolled in a clinical trial of what would become the antisense oligonucleotide Qalsody. We spoke to Green about her experience with ALS, her decision to enroll in a clinical trial, and her health more than eight years after her diagnosis.