August 26, 2014
Editor:
Dave Uphoff
The nation-wide craze "Ice Bucket Challenge" has taken Minonk by storm. Facebook pages of Minonk people are loaded with videos of local people taking the challenge. The challenge involves people getting doused with buckets of ice water on video, posting that video to social media, then nominating others to do the same. The goal is to raise awareness of ALS or "Lou Gehrig's disease". Nominees can either accept the challenge or make a donation to an ALS Charity of their choice, or do both. The challenge has gone viral with celebrities as well as local people accepting the challenge.
The challenge has not only raised awareness of ALS but also has increased dramatically the amount of donations to the ALS foundation. As of August 26th the contributions to ALS was $88.5 million dollars for the month of August compared to $2.6 million for the same time period last year. This would not have been possible without the internet.
ALS is a terribly cruel disease that shuts down a person's nervous system. ALS patients remain mentally alert but eventually are unable to eat and breathe. There is no cure for the disease. I have first hand knowledge of ALS as my mother died of ALS 31 years ago. It is devastating to the family as they helplessly watch a loved one slowly die.
While ALS is a relatively rare disease affecting 30,000 people in the USA, it has hit Minonk especially hard based on a per capita basis. In addition to my mother dying of ALS, my second cousin Eugene Johnson died of ALS and I have another second cousin who currently is suffering from ALS.