First it was the ALS ice bucket challenge. Now it's
the gratitude challenge she said!
Her statement got me thinking. The ALS ice bucket challenge became so popular on
social media. People from all parts of the world had fun with it. But what is
this ALS all about?
The ALS Association is the only non-profit organisation
whose mission includes providing care services to assist people with ALS and
their families through a network of chapters working in communities across the
nation and a global research program focused on the discovery of treatments and
a cure for the disease.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive
neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal
cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal
cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the
motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor
neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle
movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients
in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralysed.
