Page 32 - JPGS Magazine

What happened to the Ice Bucket

Challenge?

Trends change so often. I’m pretty sure everyone has forgotten about the age-
old Ice Bucket Challenge. It seems almost prehistoric and archived into the

massive filing cabinet that is social media trends. But what happened to all the

donations that were amassed two years ago? Well, as of August 2016,
scientists released a report communicating a breakthrough regarding the ALS

disease.

All the viral videos that were put all over Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

raising awareness for ALS surprisingly accumulated a stunning total of 115
million US dollars, in which all of the proceeds were dedicated to finding a cure

for the 15,000 patients that suffer from this disease. A quick recap for those of

us who have forgotten: ALS is an extremely uncommon disease which affects
nerve cells (or neurons) in the brain and spinal cord. As the disease progresses,

it severely weakens the ability to move, and the ability to speak by damaging

the muscles. The most noteworthy sufferer of this disease is Stephen
Hawking, who is restricted to a wheelchair and uses a speech synthesizer to

formulate words.

Through extensive research and dedication, scientists have now found a

certain gene variant which is related to this disease, and can help them find a
cure for the disease. Currently, there is no cure for this disease, although they

are getting extremely close to finding one. Alongside this genome, they’ve also
been able to find another gene common in all of the patients of ALS which they

can target to help them get back on their feet and be able to speak once again.

They’ve found this through sequencing the genomes of all patients.
Hopefully, another major breakthrough like this can be found, as we get even

closer to finding a cure for the ALS disease. Who knows? Maybe in a few years’

time these people can rejoin our community once again, this time able to walk,
talk and be free of this ALS ailment.

So yeah, that’s what happened to the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Adam Usman