What is Al's Ice Bucket Challenge and Why Is Everyone Doing it?
Introduction
I recently have been seeing a'lot of people on Facebook and Instagram posting videos of themselves getting drenched in really icy cold water, now why are a'lot of people doing this? Then they say the names of the people that they will nominate to do this challenge also, or donate 100 dollars to the AL'S Association if they refuse to do this challenge.
I have never before seen people do this, much less heard about this association and AL'S disease, so I decided to learn more about this interesting cause and what it means to do this.
What Is Exactly AL'S?
AL'S is short for Amiotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, it is mostly widely better known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," it is a disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. AL's can spread through all of the motor neurons in the nervous system, eventually leading to death. This means that when the motor neurons die, so is the ability for the brain to initiate and control muscle movements is lost.
People with advanced stages of AL'S disease may become totally paralyzed.
What are the Early Symptoms for AL'S Disease?
There might be other symptoms involved in detecting this disease but I only want to share with you the early symptoms of this disease and how it can detected earlier to seek medical help. There is no cure for AL'S disease but with proper medical treatment it can me halted, letting the person live for years.
1. Excessive muscle weakness in the arms and legs, speech, when swallowing, or breathing. (I was surprised to know that AL'S can also affect the lungs which can fail a person with this disease to breath normally).
2. Muscles stop receiving the messages from the motor neurons that they require to function properly.
3. The muscles start getting smaller (also known as atrophy).
4. The limbs begin to look thinner as the muscle tissue atrophies are also.
Footage of Lou Gehrig's Farewell Speech
Website Links to learn more about AL'S and the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise Awareness
- Spread Awareness - The ALS Association
- Stories of Hope - ALS Awareness Month - The ALS Association
- About ALS - The ALS Association
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord resulting in muscle weakness and atrophy. - Have You Heard about the "Ice Bucket Challenge?" - The ALS Association
The ALS Association encourages scientific research to find a cure for ALS, heightens awareness of the nature of the disease, stimulates volunteerism and activism, and increases awareness of government leaders to encourage support of research and pati