Brooklyn residents suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, which leads to weakened muscles, now have a medical option closer to home.

Yolanda Williams receives treatment every few months at the new NYU-Lutheran ALS Center in Bay Ridge. She was diagnosed with the incurable neurodegenerative disease ALS about six months ago. 

Dr. Anthony Geraci leads the center, which is the first of its kind outside of Manhattan, according to hospital officials. "It's very difficult as the disease advances, and maybe a patient can't walk -- they're in a wheelchair," says Geraci. He believes the center will help patients whose relatives can't take them to Manhattan for treatment.

Mrs. Williams husband, Anthony Williams, brings his wife to the Brooklyn center. With three children at home, he admits that it has been difficult. But he wants to support his wife.

Mrs. Williams knows there will come a time when treatments don't work, and they will have to be stopped. Until then, she plans to fight. "It's a race," she says. "We have to keep running until we can't run anymore." 

Every year, more than 6,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS.