The picture above shows CNN Anchor Don Lemon taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

A new phenomenon has taken over the nation this year in a fun and challenging effort to raise money to cure ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).  It involves common folk and celebrities both being willing to have ice cold water poured over them.  For anyone who has a family member with this disease, and actions to help find a cure are welcome relief!  I have dealt with several patients who had ALS.  In addition both my parents had Multiple Sclerosis so this is an illness that captures my attention.  Through this blog post I am doing my part to “spread the word”.

This is one account I had read of how the idea has grown to what it is today:

The challenge was popularized in the United States on June 30, 2014, when personalities of the program, Morning Drive, which airs weekdays on Golf Channel, televised the social-media phenomenon, and performed a live, on-air ice bucket challenge.  Soon after, on July 15, 2014, golfer Chris Kennedy did the Ice Bucket Challenge and challenged his cousin Jeanette Senerchia of Pelham, NY, whose husband, Anthony, has had ALS for 11 years. A day later she did the challenge while her 6-year-old daughter filmed her in front of their house. Senerchia’s network on Facebook connected with Pat Quinn, a 31-year-old in Yonkers, NY, who was diagnosed with ALS in March 2013. Quinn called upon his friends and family. Soon, his whole network was posting challenges, including family in Florida, friends in Ireland and Greece, and a bar full of locals, which was broadcast on local television.

Here are the Rules:

Within 24 hours of being challenged, participants are to video record themselves in continuous footage. First, they are to announce their acceptance of the challenge followed by pouring ice into a bucket of water. The bucket is then to be lifted overhead and poured over the participant’s head. Then the participant can call out a challenge to other people.

This idea has captured my attention so much during recent news of crisis events it has actually made the news fun to watch again.  I wonder how long this challenge will run?  Only time will tell!