Over the last two weeks, the ALS ice bucket challenge has ‘soaked’ the entire nation from Hollywood, California to Pylesville, Maryland. Everyone, including many North Harford students, have joined in the effort to raise awareness or donate to ALS Association.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, affects nerve cells in the brain and spine. Eventually, victims of this disease will lose all voluntary muscle movements, leading to the loss of the ability to eat, speak, walk and eventually breathing. ALS is 100 percent fatal and there is only one Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug to help expand the lifetime of the patient, but only by two to three months, according to alsa.org.

“I had no idea what ALS was or that it even existed until I saw one of my friends complete the [Ice Bucket] challenge on my newsfeed. I researched it after, and instantly felt a need to donate to the cause,” sophomore, Katie Poteet, stated.

In efforts to raise awareness for this rare disease, over 71,000 donors have partaken in the challenge. The Ice Bucket Challenge consists of recording the dumping of ice water over one’s head and then proceeding to nominate friends to do the same, within 24 hours. If one fails to do so, they must donate 100 dollars to the ALS Association.

This campaign started up north in the Boston area when friends of former Boston College baseball player, Peter Frates drenched themselves in order to raise awareness for this disease. Frates was diagnosed in 2012 with ALS and is currently paralyzed and unable to eat independently. Fortunately, this challenge spread like wildfire and has contributed to an increase in both awareness and donations.

According to reports from the ALS Association from the dates of July 29 to August 12, they have received over four million dollars in donations, in comparison to the 1.12 million dollars in the same time span as last year.

In response to the outpouring of donations to the associations, Barbara Newhouse. President and CEO of the ALS Association, stated “we have never seen anything like this in the history of this disease,” and “ we couldn’t be more thrilled with the compassion, generosity and sense of humour that people are exhibiting…”

Experience the #IceBucketChallenge phenomenon that’s spreading awareness of ALS across social media. Challenge friends and family today!