This week, the 101 Mobility® corporate office accepted the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. We are absolutely honored to help raise awareness for a cause that affects so many people and many of our clients. We are happy to take part in the efforts to raise awareness, give back to our community, and contribute to finding a cure. ALS, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by rapid muscle weakness due to muscle wasting.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge began when a former Boston College baseball player, Peter Frates, discovered he had the disease. One night at the dinner table with his parents and girlfriend, Frates set a goal for himself: to get viral awareness for ALS. Here were the rules: once nominated, you have two options. The first, to dump a bucket of ice water on yourself, nominate a handful of people to do the same, and post a video of it all online as proof. The second was to donate $100 to ALS research. Frates wanted his fundraising campaign to reach as high as Bill Gates, and as we all know, it certainly did.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge campaign trended on both Facebook and Twitter for weeks as people posted their videos. Frates’ efforts led to millions of ice bucket challenges across the world and over $100 million raised for the ALS Association to help find a cure.
Some things to know about ALS:
ALS can strike anyone.
ALS is not contagious.
Only about 5-10% of cases are inherited from a person’s parents.
An estimation states that ALS is responsible for 2 deaths per 100,000 people every year.
5,600 people in the U.S. alone are diagnosed with ALS each year.
It is estimated that as many as 30,000 Americans could have the disease at any given time.
ALS is variable and many people live with quality for 5 years and more even though the average estimation is only 2-5 years. Over half of all patients live more than 3 years after the initial diagnosis.
About 20% of people with ALS live 5+ years and up to 10% will survive more than ten years.
There are a small number of people that were diagnosed with ALS and then the disease reversed.
ALS is a worldly disease that has no pattern of who it affects.
Early signs and symptoms of the disease include muscle weakness, stiffness, and paralysis of the muscles or limbs.
For more information about ALS, including research efforts, community news, and a donation forum, please visit: http://www.alsa.org/
From all of us at 101 Mobility®, we encourage you to help us strike out ALS!
Sources
http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2014/09/05/how-pete-frates-found-his-calling-and-launched-the-ice-bucket-challenge/
http://www.alsa.org/about-als/facts-you-should-know.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amyotrophic_lateral_sclerosis