The Ice Bucket Challenge ….

Bill Gates taking one for ALS

The Ice Bucket Challenge ….

Lately its all been about the ALS ice bucket challenge , a viral fund-raiser where  people are nominated by previous challengers, then after doing the challenge themselves they are able to nominate the next unlucky people and so on. Originally orchestrated to gain recognition of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) the American name for the condition we Brits usually call motor neurone disease (MND) .  Here in the UK the leading organisation is called the Motor Neurone Disease Association. It brought about good and bad press, stories of huge wages being drawn by the directors of ALS have abound but icy bucket after icy bucket has been poured over heads all across the world and well over $50 million dollars worth of donations have been made, Even Bill gates was seen online soaking himself for the cause  …. 

I’ve had a few Ice baths in my time as a kayaker ..

Eventually several nominations ended up in my lap from various people including  my sister who lives over in Qatar so I was forced to play the game … However given my history as an International White-water kayaker who has had his head, and occasionally whole body 😉 soaked in Icy water in more countries than I can remember, left me with no option but to make an extra effort …. So I rocked up to the local loch with the lads, which on the night sat at a “penis shrinking 12-13 degrees” and swam a 1 Kilometer lap in my swim shorts .. and I’m not afraid to say that half way I was afraid I had been a little ambitious but I kept going and made the challenge stick 🙂  bloody freezing man !!! BBRRRRRRRRRRRRRR…… 😉

I would like to note that I am making a small donation to MS Borders  and not ALS , it’s a charity that I support in any way I can , a local one where unpaid volunteers give their own spare time to care for MS sufferers here locally … no half million pound wages for these guys … just satisfaction 🙂  .  If you can find it in your heart to give a small donation to help them then you can do it RIGHT HERE

MS Borders .. a truly deserving charity ..