A year after ALS ice bucket challenges went viral online, ALS Societies across Canada and the ALS Canada Research Program say financial help is on the way.
The ALS Society of Manitoba announced over $350,000 in donations were raised in Manitoba due to the Ice Bucket Challenge videos.
A total of $15 million was raised across Canada,”representing a ten-fold increase over historic investments,” according to the non-profit organization, on Thursday. $11.5 million of those funds will be invested into research grants and programs. The remaining $4.4 million are spent on client services for ALS societies.
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Researchers in Manitoba said finding a cure through research, is within reach.
“We believe that the science is there. We are able to develop a cure for ALS,” said Jiming Kong, a professor of Human Anatomy and Cell Science at the University of Manitoba. Kong is part of the national ALS Canada Research Program.
Kong said advancements have been made in the past year. His team is working in clinical trials to remove toxic proteins from patients that are known to cause certain forms of the disease.
ALS is commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”, where motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord degenerate, eventually leading to full body paralysis.
According to the ALS Society, about 3,000 people suffer from ALS in Canada. 80 per cent of people die within two to five years of diagnosis of the disease. The ALS Society said it will continue the Ice Bucket Challenge every August annually until a cure is found.
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