LIFE
ALS 'Ice Bucket Challenge' Haters -- You Might Want To Watch This
Mandy Velez
Anthony Carbajal has ALS, and he wants you to know that the Ice Bucket Challenge is making a difference.
For most, the ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) challenge may mean just a bucket of ice water or scrolling through the videos on Facebook, but for 26-year-old Anthony Carbajal, the challenge means so much more.
He posted a video of himself, above, hilariously clad in tight spanks as part of his very own ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. But the rest of the video, where he explains his story and addresses the "haters" of the challenge -- those that say the viral awareness campaign doesn't actually help -- sparked his call to arms to go viral.
"ALS is so, so f*cking scary," he says earnestly into the camera, eyes blood shot from taking a few moments to cry. "That's probably why nobody talks about it. No one wants to see a depressing person that's dying."
ALS runs in the wedding photographer's family -- his mother has the disease and his grandmother passed away from it. The disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, slowly breaks down the motor neurons that send signals to the spine and brain. When all the motor neurons are broken down, the ultimate result is death. On January 27, Anthony's nightmare became a reality: Doctors diagnosed him with ALS.
"Eventually I won't be able to walk, talk or breathe on my own" he says. But that's just one of the many hardships Anthony has had to face. The video shows him caring for his bed-ridden mother.
According to his YouCaring crowd-funding page, he also had to stop working and is already experiencing lack of muscle control. His message has spread, because so far, the page has raised over $100,000 -- a little over half of his goal.
And despite arguments against the challenge, he's grateful for the support.
"You have no idea how every single challenge lifts my fears, lifts every single ALS patients' fears" he says in the video. "You are making a difference."
For more information about ALS or to donate to the cause, please visit ALSA.org.
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