Sisters, Over the last week, the #IceBucketChallenge has gone viral and even the Kennedys are participating. For those of you who arent familiar with ALS or Lou Gehrigs Disease, ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that attacks both upper and lower motor neurons and causes degeneration throughout the brain and spinal cord. A common first symptom is a painless weakness in a hand, foot, arm or leg, which occurs in more than half of all cases. Other early symptoms include speech swallowing or walking difficulty. There is no cure for ALS right now. ALS affects 30,000 people in the US at any given moment and those who are diagnosed have between 2-5 years to live although there are some who live past the statistic (Stephen Hawkings has had it for 50 years). Someone is diagnosed every 90 minutes and someone passes away every 90 minutes. Medical equipment and services can run up to around $200,000 for the patient, which is where the ALS Association can make the difference in someones life. Our services provide patients with support groups and care services ranging from equipment on loan, clinics (free of charge) as well as funding for early stage research and for advocacy efforts. Currently the only drug on the market slows the progression of the disease but this disease affects everyone so differently which makes this disease so challenging. The purpose for the #IceBucketChallenge is to bring awareness about the disease and to raise money for the Walk to Defeat ALS events in your area. As the Special Events Coordinator for the Walk to Defeat ALS in Santa Barbara/Ventura County as well as Inland Empire, the walks I manage funds these services for hundreds of patients in my district. I encourage you to take the #IceBucketChallenge and donate to my team. Even in this position, Im am blessed by getting to work with my AOII sisters. One of my coworkers is an AOII and the chapter at University of La Verne rallies behind one of my committee members whose father passed away from ALS and is also an AOII alumna. AOIIs helping AOIIs: this is truly a great sisterhood! Please help us by taking the challenge, donate to a team and spread the awareness for this life stealing disease. Team Reds Page: webgw.alsa.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=10145&team_id=284137 BTW - it was 100 degrees outside when we did this so the ice melted fairly quickly and we dried off in no time. :)
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 21:06:39 +0000
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