
It is like banging your head against a wall. You do it because it feels so good when you stop!

On July 29th, a baseball player from Boston with ALS challenged some friends to dump a bucket of ice water on their heads to make people aware of Lou Gehrig's disease and donate money to the ALS Association. It has now gone viral and the ALS Association has received a lot of donations.

I want to answer them from a perspective of a person suffering from ALS.
Those are actually good questions. I would have asked those too if I didn’t know what I know today. First of all, ALS is a little known disease. Only a few thousand people in this country suffer from it. The cause is unknown, there is no treatment, and the patient will eventually lose all control of his muscles until he suffocates to death. In other words a real buzz kill!
No one wants to talk about it and the drug companies don’t find it profitable to develop a cure for so few people. Said differently, I and my other friends with ALS are not worth saving. I know that is a harsh statement however it is the truth. By the way, I do not fault the drug companies for their position, it makes financial sense.

Let me explain the metaphor of the ice bucket challenge. Getting a bucket of ice dumped on your head is shocking, much like getting a diagnosis of ALS is shocking. Your future is washed away and ice water is poured on your dreams. You are suddenly and painfully made aware of a deadly disease: ALS

Hope! Something I can hang on to. The future is looking brighter and a cure might be around the corner!

Remember every bucket of ice you dump may literally save a life!
Proverbs 13:12