Always Have Hope

It is that charitable time of year again when all the “please donate” to this and that mailings go out each year and millions of Americans do donate and are very charitable to the cause of their choices. Growing up I remember Jerry Lewis’s entertaining telethons he put on the air to raise money for muscular dystrophy. Throughout the years he raised almost a billion dollars and sadly with all that money the people inflicted with the condition still have it, there is not a cure but better wheel chairs have been developed.

The next famous donate challenge was that silly thing where people doused themselves willingly with a bucket of ice water. Did anyone get injured or sick from that? It seemed that everyone wanted to do it and they all had to post their homemade video on social media for lots of likes. Whatever happened to   all  the money that hype made for a good cause? Why did any of that silliness happen? Who’s idea was that and why doesn’t anyone do the bucket challenge anymore?

Seventeen million people took part in the viral ice bucket challenge. In the summer of 2014 everyone was putting ice and water in a bucket and pouring it all over them. From nuns to celebrities everyone wanted to do it. It was all done to bring attention to a not known by many people disease known as ALS. Suddenly everyone was saying ALS and the cause raised more than $2 million dollars. Although Opera and at the time future President Trump had the ice poured on them, it was one guy who made the challenge famous. Pete Frates was the handsomest, nicest guy who everyone seemed to know and was captain of his baseball team in college. He played professional baseball overseas and came back to America and sold insurance.

Soon Pete was having trouble doing simple tasks like buttoning his shirt or tying his shoelaces. Soon he was diagnosed his death sentence. ALS. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis also known as Lou Gehrig’s  Disease that is a rare condition that effects about 30,000 older Americans. Everything eventually deteriorates. First your movements, then your voice and finally your ability to breathe yet your mind stays alert. That has to be torture especially when it happens to an active popular person. ALS has no known cure. Most people live only 3-5 years after being diagnosed with the condition. So he asked his doctor how much money is needed to find a cure?  She threw out there an answer of millions of dollars.

So, he said that somehow he will raise a million dollars. He met the girl of his dreams 8 months before he learned he had ALS and she married him anyway knowing that his body will eventually shut down completely. He was using a wheelchair by the time they were married. Now it has been six years later and he is still alive and still married. Now he can feel a person touching him although paralyzed and can communicate with his eyes used as a cursor on a computer. He challenged all his friends and pro-athletes to do the ice bucket challenge and awareness grew. Even Bill, Gates did it and the fund grew to $220 million dollars.

It has been 75 years since famous baseball player Lou Geherig died from the disease and nothing much has been done to cure it since. Pete was told to prepare for death too but he wanted to do more even though now he breathes through a ventilator. His medical bills are $90,000 dollars per month. Read more about his personal story in the book called The Ice Bucket Challenge by Casey Sherman & Dave Wedge. Now they have found the ALS gene and have gotten approvals for new drugs. The new drugs in clinical trials now are supposed to slow down the disease by 30%.

So, this Thanksgiving be thankful for your health no matter what health you have left and be hopeful for those less fortunate than you. Be grateful for those who go through the effort to raise funds to help others and donate if you can. It can’t hurt.