ALS awareness has recently hit an all time high. If you follow any form of social media you have seen people dump buckets of ice water on their head followed by a call to donate and tagging some of their friends to follow.

I also see a lot of people knocking the challenge as saying it doesn’t do anything and people should just donate. This breaks my heart.

When my parents sat me down and told me my dad had Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, I had never heard of it, They gave me some pamphlets to read and I had google to really learn what was happening. I had no idea what this disease would do to him. 

My family realizes that there so many conditions and diseases out there that need cures and help. Everyday we hear more bad news. Everyone knows someone with a incurable disease. Our bodies weren’t made to last but they seem to be finding news ways to break down. When my dad was first diagnosed my mom pointed out that everyone has a struggle that hurts their life as much as ALS was hurting us and we should treat them as such.

We know that the friends and family both blood related and in Christ, whom we don’t deserve, don’t have the time to call and check up or stop by every day. We know that we are just small part in world filled disease, terror, and unknown. But every day we struggle with a relatively uncommon and until recently, not widely known about condition.

The thing that got me about ALS was everyday was little bit worse. Every night when my dad went to bed, he woke with a little less strength than he had the day before. This was hard to watch, I can’t imagine how it felt to him. He and I were the morning people in our house so before school or church depending on what shift he was currently on (as long as I can remember he worked shift work at plants, often staying up 36 hours or more) so we would talk then.

One morning, about a year or so into his diagnosis I came into the kitchen and there were paper plates set up with a sandwich and other lunch food and on top of was the plastic sandwich bags. I guess I looked confused because he smiled and said “Today I can’t open the little Ziploc baggies anymore.”

This has been our life the past few years but it’s not all bad. We have the support of church family like you wouldn’t believe. We never have to wonder if people care, they make that known constantly.

I understand people have different reasons for not wanting to participate in the Ice Bucket Challenge, whether it’s financial or personal I respect that. I understand some people would rather donate money than dump water on there head and that’s awesome because every bit helps and that’s what the challenge was anyway .

But do not criticize the people who choose either just dump the water or just donate money (why anyone would argue against that one is beyond me anyway) or do both. Do not bother with the arguement that water does nothing. A few months ago I had to clarify “Lou Gehrig’s” when telling someone what my dad had because so few had heard of ALS. I doubt I’ll have to do that again anytime soon. The water did it’s job. You’ve seen the stats that have been released about how much funding is up. People who didn’t donate last year did this year. The challenge as a whole did it’s job.

My dad is confined to bed all day every day. People send him messages and call to remind him that they love him and care but the past few weeks, we couldn’t get on Facebook or Instagram without seeing someone take part in the challenge. When they did, it was like everyone was suddenly telling us that even with with everything else in the world, they still care about this uncommon disease. You will probably never know how much it means to us.

We love that donations to ALS are up. Research still has so much left to learn before we will have a cure. My dad’s doctor told me the other day that they are actually beginning to think ALS is not just one disease. It’s possibly multiple that we know so little about we can’t tell them apart. We know that problems like this will not be fixed by throwing money at them. Research needs funding but money runs out when people stop caring.

The ice bucket challenge is indeed a trend. Something else will take over social media soon. And people will complain about that.

But while this one rides out, whether you donated or dumped ice water on your head or both. Know that Gordon’s are still in awe that even for a little bit so many cared at all.

Also the Ice Bucket Fails are hilarious. I hope no one was seriously injured.

This is our local clinic. Donating to it insures your money will be staying in Augusta and helping out the victims here. The doctors, researchers, and workers here are wonderful and all have the same passion to find a cure.

ALS AUGUSTA CLINIC