ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge from jennifer hicks on Vimeo.

Yesterday, I did the Ice Bucket Challenge to help raise awareness and money for ALS. If you don’t know how this challenge originated, you can see the video here which explains it all. This video shares another family’s experience living with ALS (keep your tissues handy). And here is a thoughtful response to this challenge AND the global water crisis.

As I explain in the video, I was at first conflicted when I was challenged by my 9 year old nephew to do this. I wasn’t certain that I’d be able to make a difference, or that the money I was prepared to donate would go to help people living with this terrible disease.

In the end, I decided that if even one person learned about ALS as a result of me taking this challenge and making this video, it was worth it.  Because with awareness comes the spark, the possibility for change.

ALS takes away motor skills over time. You might imagine the many physical limitations this causes – and can probably appreciate how devastating this can be.

What ALS doesn’t take away are a person’s cognitive skills. So they can think, remember, have ideas. They are the same person they always were. Inside. But they have no way to to share or express that. They can’t communicate because their body won’t allow them do.

This is why my donation in doing this challenge is going to the Bridgepoint Hospital’s Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Clinic. This specialized clinic helps connect people with specialized techniques and devices that enable people with ALS (and other neuro-degenerative diseases) to communicate non-verbally. Such devices are really costly, so I’m hoping my donation will help make it possible for someone to access one.

Because, as my 9 year old nephew Andrew said: “Don’t forget, Auntie Jenn: donating is the most important part of this challenge!”