The Reason Behind ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, is going viral all over social media. Many have joined but never know the reason behind the movement. The challenge started in honor of Pete Frates, former Boston College baseball captain, who was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in March of 2012. Frates took the challenge himself on July 29, 2014 at Fenway Park, together with his friends and family members including his pregnant wife.

Peter Frates, now 29 year old, use baseball to raise awareness, hope and money for treating the ALS disease. The Ice Bucket Challenge is a fund-raiser for the ALS Therapy Development Institute and the Pete Frates #3 Fund. Pete Frates commitment has inspired thousands of people to dump ice water over their heads and helped raised nearly $6 million for ALS organizations.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed. (What is ALS)