personal + thoughtsMaddyComment

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

personal + thoughtsMaddyComment

As you may know, I'm all about trends. This subject, however, is a trend I hope we will someday not have a need for: the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. If you've been out of the country for the past month, the Ice Bucket Challenge involves receiving a challenge from someone, and either pouring ice water on your head + donating $10 to ALS research, or skipping the cold bath and donating $100. So far, this challenge has raised $53 million dollars since July 29 (in comparison to raising $19 million in all of 2012...) and there are some hilarious celeb videos.

According to the ALS Association, "Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as 'Lou Gehrig's Disease,' is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost."

...that means, patients of ALS may eventually lose total motor function in their bodies, becoming completely paralyzed. While statistically the disease only affects 2 out of 100,000 people, there is no cure, and anyone can develop ALS.  I fully support giving more money to research the causes and treatments of ALS, and I hope you'll consider donating to this cause as well.

I decided to participate in the challenge AND donate funds to ALS research because I think passing along the videos, as obnoxious as it may seem to some (which is a fine stand to take!), does draw increased attention to the cause.

And if you disagree, that is completely your prerogative. You can just enjoy this video of me pouring water on myself. Happy Sunday!

(Thank you to Leslie for the video assist!)

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PS - I found this post by Alex in Wanderland really inspirational, and I hope to make my charitable giving a more regular occurrence!

PPS - I donated to charity:water as well.