Career
He was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in 1998, at the age of 29. He was the subject of His Brother"s Keeper: A Story from the Edge of Medicine, written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jonathan Weiner, and the documentary film, So Much So Fast, which premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. Stephen Heywood was a catalyst in the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis research field, driving scientists and leaders to find effective treatments for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis patients.
He died from an accidentally detached respirator in November 2006.