The ALS ice bucket challenge.

So I did it. It took me more than 24 hours, so I think that means I'm supposed to donate, but who's to say I didn't do both. Also, I felt obligated to actually learn something about Lou Gehrig's disease before I absentmindedly passed on the challenge (to Brian, Corinne, and Mom). I love the idea of a grassroots movement creating such widespread awareness (who thought such a thing would take off?), but I didn't want to dump ice water on my head and donate to something that could just be the  misspelled acronym for American Sign Language. To me, implicit in the challenge was the requirement to actually learn about the disease, to become aware of it. So I did a little research.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a disease that causes the motor neurons in the brain to degenerate. While patients muscles atrophy and they struggle to swallow and breathe, the thinking part of their brains remains unaffected. About 30,000 Americans are diagnosed; median survival time after diagnosis is thirty-nine months. There is no known cause. There is no known cure.

I just spent the last hour or so lost in stories of those suffering with ALS. They are heartbreaking. While I don't know personally know anyone with ALS, I have seen the effects of other chronic diseases on people I love and their families (note my Camp Kesem shirt). They need more love from the world. Here are a two first hand accounts of ALS:
http://www.alsindependence.com/Jerry_Gladman's%20Story_one.htm
http://www.als-testimony.org/story.html

I had been dreading getting nominated. I didn't want to video myself (I don't like hearing myself talk), I didn't want to dump water on my head (I don't like having wet hair), and I knew I'd have to spend a couple hours researching before I felt like I had actually fulfilled the challenge. But I'm glad it happened. Now, at least, I can understand somebody's suffering a little better.