ALS and the Ice Bucket Challenge

So last Saturday I posted a little bit about the Ice Bucket challenge because Disney CEO Bob Iger and Robert Downey Jr both participated and it made me so happy. Now it seems to have exploded across the Internet and especially with celebrities. Every day more and more are participating in the challenge. It has been amazing to see the people who actually talk about the disease to try and bring a little awareness. In reality I wonder how far in education this really goes, but if nothing else the millions of dollars that have been raised is nothing to laugh at.

Part of the reason this is the post that I am doing for tonight is that David and I just got back from a memorial service for a dear family friend who passed away from ALS. They had been struggling with the disease for 5 and a half years and the toll it has taken on the person, the friends, and their family has been immense. I know the family very well because I grew up living across the street from them and was a frequent baby sitter to their children. ALS is such a devastating disease and the service we went to tonight is a reminder of how much it takes away. It is not just that the person whom you love is potentially dying because death is honestly not the worst outcome. You end up trapped in your body, possibly unable to communicate. Our dear friend was lucky that they could still communicate in some way almost to the end.

The back page of the memorial service bulletin was an ice bucket challenge that people are doing in our friend’s memory. Now David and I are not ourselves participating in the ice bucket dumping part of the challenge because we won’t be available. Instead we will be donating to the ALS Association at http://alsa.org. If you have participated in the challenge good for you, but please remember that passing the information along and donating are the two main points. This disease is so unpredictable and that is part of what is so devastating about it. After the jump see what other celebrities have participated in the challenge!

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