ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)

As many of you probably have heard or seen on social media- the Ice Bucket Challenge has been pretty huge and incredibly popular across the both America and the UK and has raised over 85 million dollars (as of this moment) for the non-profit organization set up in 1985.

First off- Have you done the challenge? How much do you know about it? Is it a worthwhile cause?
What are your thoughts?

Secondly- AFTER writing down your immediate thoughts, please read this- http://healthimpactnews.com/2014/als-ice-bucket-challenge-do-you-know-what-you-are-supporting/

Thirdly- what are your thoughts now (after reading the article)? I personally found it rather interesting and wondered what people here thought of it all...

Have a nice day,

(Edit* P.S. I have not verified any of the information in the article so it could be exaggerated or simply false. If you do decide to verify the information please let the rest of us here know ty)

Have I done it? I did!
How much do I know about it? - about what, exactly? ALS or the challenge in general? About who/what donations are going to? Sure. It's important to do your research into charities before donating and what you're supporting. For me - it was in honor of my Uncle and supporting others with the disease. He died of ALS 6 years ago...

My thoughts: People doing these sorts of things usually have very pure and good intentions. Although they may be contributing to something that they don't completely understand, their hearts are in the right places. The awareness this challenge has raised about ALS in general is important. Before now it has been in the background - something unknown and misunderstood. I'm grateful for it. My family is grateful for it. And I've seen several youtube videos of people diagnosed with it who are also extremely grateful for it.

I'm doing it tonight. I know a fair bit about Motor Neurone Disease, as it's called in the UK.

Read the article and can't say I'm too shocked or upset by anything in there. I get the points it's making but honestly, those statistics are pretty good compared to a lot of other charities I've researched in the past. I'm happy to give a little money to a charity I'd never have supported otherwise which seems like it's going to be in a position to do some really meaningful work with this sudden cash injection.

The fact we're discussing MND/ALS/LGD at all is a great justification for what's essentially a bit of harmless fun.

I find myself wondering how many other organisations which pay their CEO less than $0.5m made $88m in the last few months... seems like a worthwhile investment, to me.

Interestingly there was a breakthrough with ALS/MND reported in the news yesterday:



http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/breakthrough-in-spinal-cord-research-could-lead-to-eventual-motor-neurone-disease-cure-9692343.html

My sister had a friend with als that used to follow me around everywhere...she died at 23 ...I knew her since she was 16, she was diagnosed at 18 and we saw first hand how quickly als could degenerate someone....

For a few weeks now I was wondering if/when this topic would arrive here...I've been watching the videos...mark hammill, and the rest of the cast/crew...whole nfl teams...patrick stewart( who did it correctly and looked like a boss)...last night chris hardwick did it on the set of the new starwars, using the force...

The proper way is either dump a bucket of ice water on yourself OR make a donation...most have been dumping the ice water ( I'm sure they're donating too)...you gotta see patrick stewart's video...

RyuJin wrote: ...you gotta see patrick stewart's video...

Dude, no link?

Jestor wrote:

RyuJin wrote: ...you gotta see patrick stewart's video...

Dude, no link?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju5VxyM3S4o

I'm not as adept at linking things with the phone as some of our other phone bound members

I'm actually surprised it worked...

RyuJin wrote:

Jestor wrote:

RyuJin wrote: ...you gotta see patrick stewart's video...

Dude, no link?

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju5VxyM3S4o

I'm not as adept at linking things with the phone as some of our other phone bound members

I'm actually surprised it worked...

Class....

Here's my Star Wars themed vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9-bzpKN9Sk

Another interesting point, when you donate to ALSA you can choose for the whole of your donation to go towards research:

Stephen Hawking...(by proxy)

http://time.com/3206976/als-ice-bucket-challenge-stephen-hawking-video/