My Facebook page is starting to see timeline activity related to the #IceBucketChallenge. Why me? My father died from ALS on February 27, 2014, at the age of 63.
Surely everyone knows by now that this is the push to raise awareness of what ALS is (do you know what ALS stands for?) and to raise money to fund research to move this disease into a state of real life-extending progress.
No doubt, you are seeing this everywhere, and I do mean everywhere… Facebook, Twitter, local news, national news, celebrities, friends—most likely, you actually know someone who has been challenged. (There’s now even a montage of videos of ice bucket challenges gone wrong.)
It may seem a bit silly to dump a bucket of ice on your head, especially to those who aren’t doing it or don’t understand how in the world this is doing anything to fight Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. (There you go! That’s what ALS means.)
Here are a few Ice Bucket Challenges posted on Facebook, done in honor of my dad by the notable residents of Paragould, Arkansas, where he and my mom have lived for several years.
Ice Bucket Challenge Post by Bradley Snyder, with my mom dumping the ice on him and fellow neighbor, Joey Fleszar, who helped my dad so much in his final months.
I believe it is doing something just by people talking about it, donating as little as $5 to ALS research, and posting thousands of ice bucket videos. Awareness! Awareness! As my family trudged through the journey that ALS is, I was amazed at how many people had no idea what ALS is or how to really help someone with ALS, even those in the medical community.
Let me tell you a few things I know about ALS just from watching my dad live (and die) with it.
From the ALSA.org press release:
As of Tuesday, August 19, The ALS Association has received $22.9 million in donations compared to $1.9 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 19). These donations have come from existing donors and 453,210 new donors to The Association.
Over 453,000 new donors? Yes, I would say that’s significant. For the patients and their families trying to cope with ALS, this Ice Bucket Challenge is a welcome relief in a way. Finally, we have the feeling that people are starting to “get it.” I know Dad would have loved to see people get dunked under a bucket of ice water, but more so because it was done in hopes of someday preventing someone from enduring the agony that he did.
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