 Extortionists have demanded fees of more bitcoins than Finney had left after using the majority of them to cover medical expenses in 2013.In October 2009, Finney announced in an essay on the blog "Less Wrong" that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, a/k/a "Lou Gehrig's disease") in August 2009.Prior to his illness, Finney had been an active runner.