The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has been reignited by NFL linebacker Tim Shaw.
Shaw was diagnosed with ALS in April of 2014 and since has led an ultra-active lifestyle including bungee-jumping off a bridge in New Zealand and drilling wells in the Amazon of Australia, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
“People ask me all the time, ‘What’s on your bucket list? Are these bucket-list items?”’ Shaw said. “I don’t have a bucket list. I just go. I just live. I just do, and that’s how I want to go from here on out.”
Shaw is not helping to revive the Ice Bucket Challenge with the ALS Association. The team are aiming to make August the annual fundraiser similar to other causes and organizations like how breast cancer awareness month is October.
The challenge was started last August by former Boston College baseball player Pete Frates and Pat Quinn to raise awareness about Lou Gehrig’s disease. They ended up raising $115 million.
Frates was diagnosed with the terminal neurodegenerative disease in 2012 and is now paralyzed, and cannot talk.
On Friday at Fenway Park, Frates was on the field for the official kickoff of the challenge as the Boston Red Sox dumped ice water over their heads. Being the second year, the challenge has now been more organized in its planning.
On the NASDAQ tower in New York city is a clock ticking down to start all 30 Major League Baseball teams taking part in the challenge.
Brian Frederick, chief of staff of the ALS Association, said in a study that they found out people took part last year because they were challenged, which left many other people out who had not been asked.
“So we thought between those people and everybody who said they had so much fun doing it, why wouldn’t people want to do it again?” Frederick said from Boston. “We’ll see how many people are willing to do it again. I can tell you that within the ALS community everybody’s completely fired up, and we’re all so excited to have just kicked it off with Pat and Pete at an amazing and inspiring day at Fenway Park.”
Although there have not been any specific fundraising goals set, Frederick and the ALS Association are definitely searching for support.
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