The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

By: Dorian Jenkins

ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.” The Ice Bucket Challenge is a wonderful program to support. It raises a lot of awareness and money for this incurable disease. Many people and celebrities throughout the world have been participating in the challenge, while having fun raising awareness. Landen Smith, a senior at Seckman High, says, “The challenge was very fun to do, refreshing on a hot day and I am glad I can help out a good cause!”

The ALS Ice-Bucket Challenge was started by a former Boston College baseball player, Pete Frates. He was diagnosed with ALS in 2011. On July 31 of this year, he challenged some of his friends and celebrities to dump a bucket of ice on themselves to “strike out ALS.” This soon became a worldwide social media phenomenon, with people wanting to participate in the challenge. Taylor Wucher, a junior at Seckman High School, says, “I believe it is a wonderful way of raising awareness for ALS.”

  ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The disease causes the neurons in your body eventually to die and the ability of the brain to initiate and control your muscle movements is eventually lost. Patients in the later stages of ALS will eventually become paralyzed. After being diagnosed with the disease, most patients will only have five years left to live.

The Ice-Bucket Challenge has been going on throughout the entire world and has been done by celebrities, athletes, teachers, and even younger children. The challenge alone has raised over 98.2 million dollars for ALS. Last year, they raised a total of 2.7 million dollars. A total of 2.4 million videos were uploaded to Facebook and 3.7 million videos were uploaded to Instagram. Caitlin Renwick, of Seckman High School, says, “I was challenged to dump ice on my head and I just had to do it because I knew it was for the right reasons!”

            Overall, the Ice-Bucket Challenge is a great way to raise money for an incredible cause and have a little fun while doing it. It has raised the amount of awareness throughout the world. If you ever get challenged to it, you know it’s for a wonderful cause.