Buckets of ice water have flooded the internet these past weeks. We’ve seen everyone from Barack Obama to Bill Gates gasp as they are drenched with freezing water.
Watching your friends and celebrities get soaked in the name of ALS is definitely hilarious, but how many people actually know what ALS is?
ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.” It is a disease that slowly affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cords, paralyzing the afflicted. When a person gets ALS, their motor neurons (nerves that connect the brain to the spinal cord then to the muscles) slowly atrophy and cannot send impulses to the muscles. An early symptom of ALS is increased muscle weakness. As ALS progresses, the muscles become smaller, making the person look thinner.
This viral challenge has inundated the web and social media. The idea of the Ice Bucket Challenge, so colloquially named, is that whoever is nominated gets to nominate other people for the challenge, and then dump a bucket of ice cold water over their heads within 24 hours of the nomination.
People who fail to do so have to donate $100 to ALS research. As easy as it might be to worm out of donating, this campaign has been hugely successful. From July 29 to August 18, more than $15.6 million has been raised. This is a stark contrast to the $1.8 million raised in the same period in 2013. The ALS Association has also said that even as people are pouring buckets of water over their heads, they are still donating.
What are you waiting for? Serena C. ’16, told The Blue and Gold, ” I did the ALS ice bucket challenge for the same reason as everyone else- to raise awareness for ALS.” It is definitely worth it to join the fun and raise awareness for ALS because it “is a really effective and fun way to spread the cause.”