Day #451: How did Hawking live so long?

Stephen Hawking was an exceptional fella.  

Aside from dreaming up theories on black hole radiation, he also managed to live for 55 years with a condition that snuffs most people within 3.

How did he do it?   Well, I’m here to tell you.

I’m here to tell you that nobody really knows.   

However, in the style of a poorly researched internet clickbait article, I’ll give you my…

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Top 5 Reasons Hawking Didn’t Die Sooner

(Doctors HATE these simple tricks!)

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#1 – Type of MND

Hawking was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease when he was only 21 years old.  MND usually affects people in their 50s, 60s and 70s, so being diagnosed this young is exceptionally rare.

It’s likely that there are many different causes of MND and therefore many different types.  Some progress more slowly than others, for reasons we’re yet to understand – though I bloody wish we did.  

Those diagnosed at a younger age tend to have slower progression, though that’s not always the case. 

There’s no doubt that Stephen Hawking’s type of MND progressed slowly, which helped keep him on this planet (and thinking about the stars) for longer.

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#2 – Interventions

Medical interventions, not the divine ones, unfortunately (though who am I to say?).

So, to be frank, there are two ways in which MND flicks you off the mortal coil: starvation or suffocation. Both can be mitigated somewhat by medical interventions.

Once MND gets to your tongue and throat muscles, you struggle to eat food and drink fluids.  A feeding tube placed into your stomach, allowing liquidised nutrition to be pumped directly into you, helps avoid the starvation bit (or – more commonly – aspiration pneumonia).

Though I can’t find it documented anywhere, I am pretty damn sure Professor H would have had a feeding tube.  Many people with MND choose not to have one (for understandable reasons) and naturally this impacts life expectancy.

Once MND gets to your diaphragm, you struggle to breathe.  Non-invasive ventilation can help, by pumping air into your lungs via a face mask.  Eventually, even this isn’t enough, and you’ll need invasive ventilation to keep you going.  This means a tracheostomy, whereby a tube is inserted directly into your trachea and a machine does pretty much all the breathing for you.

Less than 1% of people with MND in the UK elect to have a tracheostomy.  It requires round-the-clock care, often removes any remaining ability to speak, and isn’t a lot of fun.  Professor Hawking had an emergency tracheostomy in 1985 after a bout of pneumonia and this undoubtedly kept him alive and kicking (or rolling) for longer.

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#3 – Money

Perhaps a bit presumptuous, but I expect Stephen Hawking had an exceptional level of care and medical expertise surrounding him.  The sort of care that doesn’t come cheap.

Now, I will give a shout out to the NHS at this point.  Having seen what they provide for MND patients in terms of care and support, particularly in contrast to the healthcare system on the other side of the pond, I take my hat off to the NHS.

(well, in my postcode at least – others have had a terrible time unfortunately)

But if you need the highest quality, 24/7 care to keep you alive, there’s no substitute for having a stellar (!) career and international best-selling book in your corner.

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#4 – Vitamins and supplements 

It’s only fair to give the man himself a chance to answer the question.

According to several interviews with the Prof, he believed a cocktail of daily mineral and vitamin supplements including zinc, cod liver oil, folic acid, vitamin B complex, vitamin B-12, vitamin C and vitamin E, helped keep the MND in check.

Many clinical trials have since tested these supplements, with a little to no effect on disease progression (with the possible exception of B12 injections), but given MND is probably not just one disease, they may well have helped for whatever version of MND Stephen Hawking had.

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#5 – Purpose

It’s fair to say that Professor Hawking had good reasons to keep going.  

Having read his autobiography, it strikes me that he was a lot less concerned about his medical condition than those around him were.

He was truly driven by his work – and I think it’s fair to say, he was pretty good at it.

Although MND is a condition which attacks the muscles, I can attest from first hand experience that the main battleground is in your mind.

If you can find a purpose that makes the physical suffering worthwhile, you’ll definitely eek out a few more years.

So, purposes on a postcard please, folks.