The ALS ice bucket challenge is back, with a breakthrough

The organization is hoping to take the momentum from last summer’s challenge that raised a staggering $115 million for the neurodegenerative disease, to a new goal.

“Anyways I mainly wanted to do this AMA because I remember reading a lot of stories about people complaining that the ice bucket challenge was a waste and that scientists weren’t using the money to do research, etc. I assure you that this is absolutely false”.

It has been a year since your social media accounts were flooded with videos of people accepting the ALS challenges and pouring cold water on their heads.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins are crediting the viral ALS Ice Bucket Challenge with helping to raise the funds needed for an important scientific step forward in our understanding of the deadly disease. A protein has been linked in most patients who have Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

“It really spear-headed some of the research that otherwise we might not be able to do as rapidly as we could have”, says Philip Wong with Johns Hopkins.

“There’s this protein called TDP-43 that doesn’t seem to be doing its job in the neurons of ALS patients”, said Johns Hopkins graduate student Jonathan Ling.

Scientists have known about the protein for about a decade, but never quite understood its role, he continued. As many as 30,000 Americans have been diagnosed with this degenerative disease.

“We hope this will be the first of many research discoveries fueled by people’s participation in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge”, said Barb Newhouse, President and CEO of The ALS Association.

“All of your donations have been amazingly helpful and we have been working tirelessly to find a cure”, Ling said in the Reddit post.

Together with the mayors of New Orleans and Boston, they’re challenging people to pick sides during a competitive 24 hours of giving through ALS Ice Bucket Challenges around the Patriots-Saints preseason game in New Orleans.

Fighting ALS, one ice bucket at a time.

Some who had lost a spouse to the disease recalled not knowing very much about ALS before the diagnosis. “We’re so grateful for the support this August and every August until there’s a cure”, said Newhouse.