Green Country ALS Support Group Takes Ice Bucket Challenge

A group who knows better than most what ALS can do to a person took the Ice Bucket Challenge Thursday afternoon.

For members of a Green Country ALS support group, the Ice Bucket movement is a big deal; that's because with each challenge there's usually a donation for the cause.

Thursday evening, men and women fighting the deadly disease, and family members who have lost loved ones to ALS, were encouraged by the icy inspiration.

Buckets of water filled with ice is the chilling phenomenon that's bringing joy to what's, otherwise, a terribly ugly disease.

Each time Mike King sees someone pour a bucket of ice water over their head it warms his heart, probably because he knows it would have done the same for his wife, Moleta.

“I know people get tired of it, but they haven't lived it. And if they lived it, they wouldn't get tired of it,” King said. “We'd sit and pray and I said, ‘I'll take care of you if you won't give up.' And she agreed.”

Moleta, lived with ALS for two years before she lost the fight in February, her husband of 48 years was by her side.

“I knew what ALS was. I knew it would kill ya. I just didn't know from point A to point B how bad they had to suffer. When you live it, you know. And I saw it, day by day, I saw her take her last breath,” King said.

ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, destroys the nervous system until the body eventually shuts down, while the mind stays sharp.

“It's progressed rather quickly for us,” said Debbie Meredith through her daughter, Melissa.

Debbie was diagnosed with ALS last January. It progressed so quickly she can no longer speak and she's losing movement in her arms and legs, but she hasn't lost her will to live or her smile.

“Even though this is a really terrible disease and it's taking her from us slowly, our hope of The Lord gives us joy, it fills us with gladness and we can smile because this not the end,” Meredith said.

There is no cure for ALS, which is why all of the people dumping cold water on their heads are making such a difference, especially for those like Mike King, who watched the disease destroy his queen.

“It seems ridiculous, except when you look at the 31 million, it doesn't look so ridiculous then,” he said.

The Ice Bucket campaign is raising awareness of the disease, but more importantly, the ALS foundation has raised more than $31 million in one month, compared to about $2 million during this same time period last year.

For more information on how to donate you can head to the ALS Association's website.