ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

When my mom was going through a reoccurrence of ovarian cancer we talked a lot about how there just wasn’t enough money being put into finding a cure for that specific kind of cancer. It’s a crazy thing to say, but we just kept thinking that if some celebrity would get diagnosed that it would raise awareness and maybe someday, hopefully while my mom was still here, lead to a cure.

As most of you know, that didn’t happen. We lost our mom in 2006 shortly after we started our own little fundraiser, not for ovarian cancer specifically but for cancer research in general. Losing her was one of the toughest things I have ever had to endure in my life and even today I really struggle with not having her here on my bad or good days. She was my mom, and taught me everything a person needs to know about what true love really is…but she did teach me, and I’ll always have those awesome memories about who she was, and to me, she was worth finding a cure for.

The year after she passed away we decided to keep going with our little fundraiser, not just to keep a positive memory of her alive, but because we didn’t want other families to go through what we did. I’ll never forget being stopped by an older gentleman by the name of Winton, and he asking if Diane was my mother…I said that she was and he told me that he would like to donate, that she was such a fantastic lady and that he missed her.

I think that’s when I first realized that my mom was a celebrity, that she was important enough to find a cure for, and that although she was only 57 when she passed away, that she had made an impact with her time here…In essence, that it’s not the length of your life, but the depth that truly matters.

Since that time more and more people have joined our cause and the amount of money being put towards cancer research has really become astronomical and undoubtedly will one day soon lead to a cure. You can argue this fact with me all you’d like, I hear all too often that there’s too much money in cancer, that they already have a cure for it but won’t release it because big companies make too much money off of people being sick, but there are too many people who have had a mom or dad like mine. Too many of these people who are searching for a cure, too many who the cure means that other families won’t have to have the same heartbreak that we’ve endured. Try to stop a cure from being put out by these people, just try.

But the main point of this little soliloquy is that we’re all important, that we all serve a purpose while we’re hear and that each and every one of us is worth fighting for, that it’s not the length of our life but the depth.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has shown us the individuals who are battling the disease, but more than that, all of the people who choose to battle with them. 

We had a close group of friends who first got our little fundraiser off the ground with us but I can’t help but think just how amazed my mom would be if she could have been around to see just how big it has become, how many people she touched in her life that have now kept coming back to try to make a difference in her name. To our family, it means the world.

I had not personally been challenged to the Ice Bucket Challenge until one of my bus riders, Jaden, challenged me pretty recently. I was just going to do the challenge and write a check in honor of Chad Schmitz but I couldn’t help thinking, how do we do more, how do we go above and beyond, like Chad would do?

A quick side step here with one of my personal interactions with Chad. A couple of years ago I made my first really big purchase, a new car which I bought from Chad. He was fantastic through the whole process and made it one of the easiest things I ever did.

Shortly after, about 1,200 miles in, I hit a moose with said car and totaled it out. The problem was the insurance company and my definition of totaled was somehow completely different. After going back and forth with the insurance agency for about a month (all while the great people of Thibert’s Chevrolet were letting me use a rental car) I was contacted by Chad just to see how things were going. When I stopped in to talk to him he marched right over to my insurance agent with me and told them to total out the car and that I was sick and tired of waiting around without my car. He went above and beyond and the car was finally totaled out and I could move forward with getting a replacement, as a kicker, Thibert’s also threw in the use of the rental, which I had had for about a month!

On top of the wonderful customer service Chad provided during his time at Thibert’s, he also served as a volunteer fireman for our community eventually serving as Chief! His wife has also made her stamp in our community as one of the councilors at our High School. I didn’t realize just how much of an impact until I went to brag about how well everyone did for our charity basketball tournament on a “Town and School Days” radio broadcast and heard the Dean of Students brag about all the stuff she was doing to help out the kids in Red Lake Falls.

I’ve also gotten a unique opportunity to be the one who gets to transport Chad and Jenny’s youngest, Blaine, to school every day. Occasionally Maddi will ride as well, but Blaine is a constant and even though he doesn’t ride very far with me, I’ve gotten a chance to get to know him and I see how good of a kid he is, a testament to his upbringing and just how wonderful of parents Chad and Jenny have become.

The point of all of that is that Chad is a celebrity in our community, not because of the disease that he is battling, but because of the man that he is. The disease just gave us all a reason to rally up and show him and his family what he means to our community and that he has made an impact with all of us in one way or another.

One of the coolest things, which I recently found out, was that the team that the Schmitz’s walk with for the Grand Forks ALS walks, Chad’s Cruisers, wasn’t even formed by the family. It was formed by two sisters who had been loyal customers of Chad’s. Two people who he made such an impact on that they took it upon themselves to start a group to raise money for Chad and a cure for ALS. How good did this team do? They raised more money (over $20,300) than the next 9 teams participating, combined! There is no question as to the depth to which Chad has lived his life to this point.

Which brings us to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.  Here are some quick facts for you:

·         ALS is not contagious.

·         Anyone can get ALS. Genetics account for about 5-10 percent of ALS cases. There are about 12 gene mutations found to cause ALS and it takes only one parent to pass it down. The rest of the time, there is no known cause.

·         About 30,000 people in the United States are living with ALS at any given time. According to the ALS Association, about 5,600 more are diagnosed each year.

·         Early symptoms include muscle stiffness and weakness, slurred speech, manual dexterity problems, and difficulty swallowing.

·         There’s no one medical test to diagnose ALS. It is diagnosed based on symptoms, neurological exam, and a series of tests to rule out other diseases.

·         The leading cause of death for people with ALS is respiratory failure. According to the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (NINDS), death usually occurs within 3-5 years, but about 10 percent of patients survive beyond 10 years.

·         It’s rare, but ALS can stop progressing. Some people even experience a reversal of symptoms.

·         There is no cure for ALS. An FDA-approved drug called riluzole (Rilutek) may help reduce neurological damage for a time. Other treatments are designed to address individual symptoms and improve quality of life.

·         Research at the NINDS is ongoing, and the Ice Bucket Challenge is a fundraising success. As of August 22, The ALS Association reports receiving $53.3 million in donations compared to $2.2 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 21). In addition to their global research program, the ALS Association provides services to people living with ALS.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/this-als-ice-bucket-challenge-gets-to-heart-of-it.html#ixzz3BaoxsH5Y

For the most part people have taken to this challenge with open arms, it’s a simple enough thing to complete and can even be pretty fun! Not everyone donates that does the challenge, but even if only 10% have been donating, look at the amount that has been generated, over $50million! Now we as a company have decided not only to take part in the dumping of the ice water over our heads but we’re also going to do a little promotion where we donate a couple of dollars for every tuber we have on Sunday, August 31^st. It’s not much but we wanted to show Chad how much he means to our community and wanted to get our 7,500+ followers on the ALS fundraising bandwagon! With any disease, and the fundraising for it, awareness is the key.

There have been people bashing the fundraiser efforts for a number of reasons; not everyone that does it is donating, they’re wasting clean water when other countries and even parts of our country don’t have clean water, and my all-time favorite, “the videos are clogging up my Facebook newsfeed.”

First of all, as stated earlier, if only 10% of the people are donating, it has raised the funds over $50million in a very short time frame. It also has spread the awareness through user made videos. If the person who posted the video didn’t donate, maybe some of the people they nominated did.

Secondly, don’t use clean water if you don’t want. Come to the river, add some ice and dump it back on the ground or river. Eventually it will end up back in the river, somewhere will purify it, and it will once again become clean water. We have the technology, we can rebuild it, we can make it stronger…Aquafina!

Finally, I do apologize that you haven’t been able to find your favorite Banana Daiquiris & Life Lessons posts because there are far too many videos of people pouring ice water over their heads. The news feed is to show you what your friends are up to, the good news is that they are currently raising money and awareness for a cause bigger than you or them. The news is that people are suffering from a disease that robs them of their life so maybe the message you should be taking is that it’s time to stop scrolling that news feed and time to go out, make a difference, and live your life.

Sorry about the rant. I probably use social media more than anyone, but it too is a tool that can be used for social change, to create awareness, and when used properly (such as with an event like the Ice Bucket Challenge) can raise money, awareness, and even hopefully save some lives.

Come out Sunday, August 31^st and support ALS research just by enjoying a day of tubing down the Red Lake River. Pour a bucket of ice water over your head and donate, or just donate. Tell your family you love them and try to do the kind of things in your life that will one day band together a family, town, state, nation to save your life.

Make your life as deep as possible, like they say in football, leave it all on the field.