Westover: Remember the ice-bucket challenge? It's got an added cause
June. It's a month that straddles the seasons between spring and summer. It's a celebration of Father's Day and the end of the school year. It's a month that can be rainy or windy or — as we were reminded this past week — as sultry as a sauna.
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It's also ALS Awareness Month.
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In the first week of June, the iconic 'Ottawa' sign was lit up in purple, the ALS Society's signature colour. This year, it set an admirable goal of raising $2,225,000 through virtual and in-real-life walks and other events.
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But of course, the biggest push to raise awareness and dollars for ALS came in 2014.
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That's when the Ice Bucket Challenge took the world by storm. For those who missed the phenomenon, it was simple and shockingly (pun intended) effective: participants dumped a bucket of ice water over their heads, posted the video online, and challenged others to do the same.
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Those who chose to opt out were supposed to open their wallets instead. Many did both.
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Everyone from Oprah to Bill Gates got in on the action. It was nothing short of a global movement, raising $220 million U.S. while galvanizing optimism and hope for a community with too little of both.
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Fundraising challenge rebranded
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In the U.S., these mental health donations go to Active Minds, a Washington-based mental health non-profit. In Canada, in the absence of a definitive counterpart, the Canadian Mental Health Association has stepped up to suggest donations to its local branches.
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Yet many young people seem unaware there's supposed to be a fundraising component at all; for some of them, performance trumps philanthropy.
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My first instinct on hearing about the new version was protective, because the Ice Bucket Challenge was to ALS what the Terry Fox Run is to cancer.
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But then I recalled a 2019 column I wrote about my father's ALS diagnosis and lack of mental health support. Given his advanced age, he opted to forgo invasive interventions. His decline was steep and rapid. He died seven agonizing months after meeting his neurologist.
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I reflected that his medical care centred entirely on his failing body, with too little given to his mental well-being. It's no surprise that many people living with ALS, as well as their caregivers and loved ones, face serious mental health challenges.
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