What is Ice Bucket Challenge | Facts About ALS | Celebrity Ice Bucket Videos

What is the ice bucket challenge ?

The internet has gone viral with videos of celebrities and other popular personalities taking the "Ice Bucket challenge" and daring three others to do the same. As per Wikipedia Ice Bucket Challenge is also called the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, is an activity involving dumping a bucket of ice water on one's head or donating to the ALS Association in the United States. It went viral throughout social media during the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2014. There are hundreds of videos on Facebook and Twitter of people dousing themselves in chilly water. Celebrities including Brian Vickers, Satya Nadella, Britney Spears, Martha Stewart, Steven Spielberg, Kobe Bryant and Justin Timberlake have taken part.

It's an effort to raise awareness of ALS where participants must dump a bucket of ice cold water and then dare someone to do the same. If they can't, the alternative is to donate $100 to the ALS association. Since the challenge has gone viral, a number of variations have popped up. But it typically goes something like this: If someone challenges you, you have 24 hours to donate $100 to the ALS Association or make a video of ice water being poured over your head and post it on social media. Many people do both, and some contribute much more. Participants are encouraged to pass the challenge on to others via social media.

 

What is ALS ?

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is also referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease. It is a progressive neuro-degenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. ALS is thought to be affect 2 people every 1 lakh of the global population.

1. About 20% people with ALS live 5 years or more.
2. Up to 10% live more than 10 years.
3. About 5% live up to 20 years after diagnosis. 

 

Facts About ALS

1.  There si no cure for ALS.
2. ALS most commonly strike the age group of 40 to 70.
3. ALS occurs throughout the world with no racial, ethnic or socioeconomic boundaries.
4. Lou Gehrig died in 1941 at the age of 37, just two years after he was diagnosed with ALS and retired from baseball.
5. ALS is not contagious.
6. Approximately 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year. The incidence of ALS is two per 100,000 people, and it is estimated that as many as 30,000 Americans may have the disease at any given time.
7. ALS can strike anyone.
8. The onset of ALS is insidious with muscle weakness or stiffness as early symptoms. Progression of weakness, wasting and paralysis of the muscles of the limbs and trunk as well as those that control vital functions such as speech, swallowing and later breathing generally follows.
9. Riluzole, the first treatment to alter the course of ALS, was approved by the FDA in late 1995. This antiglutamate drug was shown scientifically to prolong the life of persons with ALS by at least a few months. More recent studies suggest Riluzole slows the progress of ALS, allowing the patient more time in the higher functioning states when their function is less affected by ALS. Please don't take medicine without prescription of Doctor.

 

Download ALS Factsheet : Click Here [PDF]

Download ALS Factsheet : Click Here [JPG]

 

How did it start ?

The ice bucket challenge went viral on social media after a US baseball player and ALS patient, Pete Frates, floated the idea of the challenge in a video on a social networking site. He got the idea from a friend. After that, more than 1.2 million videos were shared on Facebook between June 1 and August 13. The challenge was mentioned more than 2.2 million times on Twitter since July 29, after Frates' appeal.

 

The funds collected ?

According to the ALS website, it has so far received nearly $23 million as of Tuesday, Aug. 19. The money is used to provide assistance to patients who have been diagnosed with ALS as well as to fund research for new ways to treat and ultimately cure the degenerative disease.

 

Some Celebrity Videos of Ice Bucket Challenge 

Cristiano Ronaldo : Click Here 

Lady Gaga : Click Here

Mark Zuckerberg : Click Here

Sateya Nadella : Click Here

Bill Gates : Click Here

Britney Spears : Click Here

>> Just In : 20|8|2014,  the co-founder of the ice bucket challenge has drowned, aged 27 ... Read More