[VIRAL FLASHBACK] What is the Connection Between the Ice Bucket Challenge and ALS?

Are you one of those people who dumped oneself with a bucket of ice and water?

Years ago, the internet was flooded with videos of people dumping ice and water on themselves. Videos went viral. But what is the story behind the Ice Bucket Challenge?

What is the Ice Bucket Challenge?

The Ice Bucket Challenge is a campaign to promote awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, according to USA Today.

It aims to encourage donations for research. In the challenge, a person is filmed as a bucket of water and ice is dumped over the individual's head.

Then, the person will nominate a minimum of three people to do the same thing, having only a 24-hour time frame to complete the challenge and make a donation to the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association.

The challenge went viral in July and August 2014, with the aid of social media as a platform to reach a worldwide audience.

As matter of fact, more than 17 million people posted videos online. Even Bill Gates and former president George W. Bush did the challenge.

Over a two-year period, the money raised through the challenge helped fund research and development of treatment drugs, said USA Today.

The start of the campaign has been attributed to Pete Frates. He is a Boston College alumnus who was diagnosed with ALS in March 2012.

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Why is Ice Bucket Challenge so Popular?

After professional golfer Greg Norman nominated news anchor Matt Lauer in July 2014 on NBC's Today to do the challenge, the ice bucket challenge first received media attention.

Norman's challenge to Lauer sparked a trend that led millions of people to post videos of doing the challenge on social media aiming to raise awareness of ALS.

More than 17 million people participated in the challenge worldwide. In the US alone, there were 2.5 million participants who donated $115 million to the ALS Association, according to USA Today.

In 2017, more than $115 million was raised by the Ice Bucket Challenge for the ALS Association. According to a chart from ALS Association $77 million, or 67%, of the funds were designated to research and another $23 million, or 20%, were given to patient and community services.

In 2019, Calaneet Balas, president and CEO of The ALS Association, said: "Five years after the Ice Bucket Challenge soaked the world, the pace of discovery has increased tremendously, bringing ALS researchers closer than they have ever been to real breakthroughs in diagnosing, treating, and eventually curing this disease."

According to ALS website, the association's investment of Ice Bucket Challenge funds had a direct impact on the fight against ALS. This includes the discovery of five new genes connected to ALS.

Researchers also used their funding for new clinical trials to test potential treatments.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.

The disease is known to cause stiffness of muscles, muscle twitching and muscle weakness, which result in difficulty speaking, swallowing and eventually breathing, as per USA Today.

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