I see an ice bucket in your future....

You may be asking yourself, "So, what's up with all the ice buckets out there?"

I know the feeling, I was wondering the same thing myself. I tend to not like to follow the crowd and do things just because everyone else is doing them. In fact, I have a tendency to veer the exact opposite direction. It took me five years of my husband's cajoling before I was willing to dip my toes into the uber popular world of iPhones. I just tend to resist the things that everyone else is doing or buying into. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was no exception....

That is, until I watched this video.

A warning to my sensitive friends, the beginning has a little raunchy humor, but stick it out. The end is totally worth the wait. It is also incredibly eye-opening as to the gut-wrenching horror of ALS.

I started to look into this ice bucket trend a little more.

I discovered that it was started by former Boston College baseball star Pete Frates, who suffers from the disease and wanted to make a difference. Noticing its blaring lack of funding for research, Frates started on a quest to bring more exposure to this insidious disease.

See the article and video attached to the photo below to learn about Frates' journey to making a difference for those suffering from ALS.

Pete Frates: How one man accepted the challenge.

Since the beginning of August, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, meant to create social awareness of the disease ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), has swept the nation's social media. Starting on the field with athletes and teams, the movement soon rolled into the world of celebrities and spread quickly from there. Suddenly it doesn't matter if you are famous or a geeky high school kid. Everyone can be involved and feel a part of a national movement.

As of today, Sunday August 24th, an unprecedented 70.2 million dollars has been donated to the ALS Association to help fund research to fight this terrible disease and provide care for those who are suffering from it. Although some critics (myself originally included) question how much good a viral stream of people being drenched by buckets of ice water can really do for those struggling with the disease, many who are affected personally by ALS are elated with the public exposure their underfunded and often over-looked condition is receiving. According to those who must live with this nightmare every day, a bucket of water can mean a flood of hope that better treatment, and someday even a cure is possible.

I choose to accept the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and along with drenching myself in water plan to make a heart-felt donation. It is given with the hope that my little drop in the bucket can make the pool that much bigger, and give those fighting ALS the dream of a healthy future.