Ice Bucket Challenge helping people with ALS 'live best lives'
In the midst of frozen February, it might be hard to remember those scorching hot days when the Internet was flooded with videos showing people pouring buckets of ice water over their heads to benefit the fight against ALS.
But Clay Ahrens of Falcon Heights has no such trouble recollecting those scenes.
Thanks to the money raised by the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, the 45-year-old husband and father of two who lives with the debilitating and often quickly fatal disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, now has a power scooter to help him get around. And he wasn’t the only one who got help.
In fact, record fundraising spurred by the first year of Ice Bucket challenges eliminated the waiting lists for all kinds of assistive devices designed to help people with ALS live more active lives.
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Thanks to the viral popularity of the online videos of people dumping ice water over their heads, money started pouring in. In total, the ALS Association raised $115 million last year. The local chapter, meanwhile, raised $300,000 more for research than it ever has before — or about three times its usual amount.
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Ahrens, meanwhile, knows his days are numbered, that his life with Jana, his wife of 21 years, may be over two, or four, or six years from now, and that he will probably not see his 15-year-old son or 12-year-old daughter grow to finish college, start careers, marry or have children of their own. Yet, Ahrens said, he no longer mourns what he’s lost — the high-powered job, the ability to run, play tennis or even walk without the aid of a walker. He prefers, he said, to focus on the promise of his remaining time.
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The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has taken America by storm, and many people might not know the local connection to the viral campaign.
It's originator, Pete Frates, an ALS patient from Beverly, Mass., is friends with former New Orleans Saints standout Steve Gleason. In fact, Gleason was Frates' inspiration to make his personal battle a public mission.
Frates, a former Boston College baseball star, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral scleroris, or ALS, in 2012. A year later, he and wife Julie visited New Orleans to participate in the Team Gleason ALS Summit. He returned to New Orleans later that year to visit Gleason and attended the Pearl Jam concert at VooDoo Festival.
Frates and fellow ALS patient Pat Quinn launched the campaign in late July by challenging people on their social networks to take the plunge.
https://twitter.com/PeteFrates3/status/499327621629767680
Since then, everyone from Ethel Kennedy and Bill Belichick to Justin Timberlake and Drew Brees has poured a bucket of ice water over his or her head and challenged others to do the same to help raise awareness of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
http://www.teamgleason.org/
Our Mission:
1. Help provide individuals with neuromuscular diseases or injuries with leading edge technology, equipment and services.
2. Create a global conversation about ALS to ultimately find solutions and an end to the disease.
3. Raise public awareness toward ALS by providing and documenting extraordinary life adventures for individuals with muscular diseases or injuries.
As shown in your article about Clay Ahrens, every single donation made in the fight against ALS can help.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/strikeoutals
https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoWhiteFlags
https://twitter.com/hashtag/ALS
Those Kentucky firefighters who got too close to a power line with their ladder truck was one horrific tragedy.
41-year-old Cpt. Tony Grider
http://myfox8.com/2014/09/20/kentucky-firefighter-dies-after-being-injured-during-ice-bucket-challenge/
A Kentucky firefighter has died, weeks after participating in an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that went horribly wrong.
Electricity from a power line shocked four firefighters on a ladder as they sprayed water on a group of college students below who were trying to pull off the charity stunt.
Crews from the Fire and Rescue Department in Campbellsville were helping the Campbellsville University band with their video "Challenge" August 21.
Capt. Tony Grider died Saturday from burn-related injuries, according to dispatcher Mark Coker with the Campbellsville-Tyler 911 Center. The 41-year-old's body was driven, accompanied by an official escort, to his hometown of Columbia, Kentucky, and transferred to Grissom-Martin Funeral Home. There are no details yet about his funeral, Coker said.
