It is estimated that there are as many as 200,000 people diagnosed with ALS in China. For most of them, once their disease is diagnosed, all they can do is to stay at home and wait for the disease to develop.
In the later stages patients have difficulty in breathing and can only survive on a ventilator. However, this is expensive, costing between 700 and 1,000 yuan ($94-135) every day.
Even if the patients can afford it, they can only prolong their lives by a few years. On average, ALS patients survive between three to five years.
(China Daily November 21, 2007)