I just read this article, and frankly it really pissed me of and made me sad. First, let me discuss the ice bucket challenge. As I said before, my mother has ALS. I will readily admit, before she was diagnosed, I had very limited knowledge of the disease, although I had heard of Lou Gehrigs disease. When the ice bucket challenge first began it kind of bothered me. It bothered me because it made ALS stare me in the face everywhere I looked in social media and on TV. But, that is also the reason now why I feel it is an important thing. Do I think people are doing the challenge for attention or slacktivism like so many people have accused? Sure I do. Do I think that there are still people out there who dont have a clue or a care about what ALS is? Damn straight. BUT the best thing is...LOTS of people know what ALS is now. You know how many times people would ask me what is going on with my mom, only to look at me with a glazed look and the textbook sympathy phrase oh im so sorry when I told them she has ALS? Id say 98% of the people I decided to tell. They had no clue what I was saying. How do you think it feels for a patient, a sufferer of ALS to tell someone they have a disease and have no one know what they are talking about? Like my mom said to me today, awareness is one of the greatest things this trend has given. The people with ALS wont have to suffer alone, unrecognized anymore. So forgive me when I tell you how mad this article made me. Ive read blogs where people complain that we should be acknowledging Cancer rather than ALS, how many people dont know what cancer is? This article says ALS is not an urgent need? You tell me how someone losing everything is not an urgent need. They lose their freedom to walk, to use their hands, to speak, to eat, to care for themselves, to LIVE. Because ALS always wins. There is no cure, they dont know what causes it and most people dont even know what it is. This disease will consume and destroy the person it takes hold of. If you think for a second, that this is not a worthy cause to donate to, idiot author of MacLeans, you are a damn fool. Scott Gilmore of MacLeans magazine you are an ignorant for writing this article. You are telling people to choose a better disease to donate to? I hope you never have to see someone afflicted by this nightmare or get it yourself. You say its not even in the top 20 most fatal diseases, therefore its not important? The incidence of ALS is almost equal to that of Multiple Sclerosis. Id say most people know about and care about MS. So all you complainers and anti ice bucket challenge people, just let ALS have its time. Let the people that have ALS and Motor Neuron Disease be recognized. They are no less important than someone who has cancer or HIV. I dont just say this because its my mom, I say it because there are 3000 Canadians suffering that deserve to be recognized and deserve a chance for a cure. macleans.ca/society/health/why-the-ice-bucket-challenge-is-bad-for-you/
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 03:03:24 +0000
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