ALS Ice Bucket Challenge - My Views

As a student of Biomedical Science and with the current trend of the Ice Bucket Challenge I feel it's partly my responsibility to help people become more aware of what they are supporting.

ALS is a motor neurone disease. It's progressive which means that the disease becomes worse over time. It has no cure. This means that people diagnosed with the disease will have it for life and ultimately they will die from it. Motor neurones are the way signals are sent in our body. It's how your body responds to a hot oven or standing on a pin. Messages sent via a motor neurone stops you putting yourself in danger and pain and corrects the situation. Not only are these signals interupted the normal signals around your body become impossible often leading to paralysis. 

ALS is not completely understood and for this reason money being donated via the challenge will fund essential research into the disease, how it's caused and obviously finding a cure. ALS are also an underfunded charity as few people know a lot about the disease. Hopefully people won't just donate once then forget about ALS.

So, you may be wondering, why ice? Well, someone who suffers from ALS cannot send messages correctly from their brain to other parts of their body possibly like being numb. The dumping of ice over your body is supposed to recreate this and mimic the symptoms of ALS for a few seconds - the least we can do to acknowledge such a horrible disease.

I'd also like to point out to the people saying ALS or in the UK known as MND (motor neurone disease) that ALS is a form of MND they're not quite interchangeable. 

For people kicking up a fuss saying that the challenge is dangerous.. Go kick up a fuss somewhere else. I literally have no time for you people. A charity raising money for a lesser known disease is nothing but good. Yes freezing cold water can cause problems but if you do it right then you are in no danger what so ever. The only way the water can cause you damage is if you core body temperature drops and then you try to warm yourself up too quickly. Realistically a bucket of water is not going to do this.

Finally I'd just like to say to other charity's that hopped on the band wagon that I think they are completely and utterly wrong in what they have done. ALS deserves as much - if not more recognition as they are such a small and underfunded charity. One charity who hopped on board is well known and has a lot of donations coming in as the disease is much better known. Whoever decided to advertise their charity with the Ice Bucket Challenge too I hope you are ashamed of yourself and the numbers being so similar I very much doubt is a coincidence. 

P.S I have been nominated and will be doing mine this evening..