"Challenge Accepted"

No doubt, by now, you've heard of and seen videos of people dumping buckets of ice water on their heads. Here at PCSD, it's no different. Challenges have been issued. And challenges have been accepted.

It all started on Monday afternoon when Superintendent Cliff Cole took the plunge after being challenged by North Paulding student Bryce Ward. Mr. Cole accepted the challenge, and well, take a look at what happened:

And our principals are getting involved too:
Dallas Elementary's Blake Keown
Ragsdale Elementary's Ann Arnold

The point of the Ice Bucket Challenge is to raise awareness of ALS, right? So let's do that...

What is ALS?
ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease." It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord, and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. Patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.

Over 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS every year. That's 15 new cases a day. It is estimated that as many as 30,000 Americans have the disease at any given time. According to the ALS CARE Database, 60% of the people with ALS in the Database are men. 93% of patients in the Database are Caucasian.

Most people who develop ALS are between the ages of 40 and 70, with an average age of 55 at the time of diagnosis. However, cases of the disease do occur in persons in the 20s and 30s. ALS is 20% more common in men than women. More research is needed to determine what genetics and/or environmental factors contribute to ALS, but it is known that military veterans (particularly those deployed during the Gulf War) are approximately twice as likely to develop the disease.

What You Should Know About ALS

• ALS is not contagious.

• It is estimated that ALS is responsible for nearly two deaths per hundred thousand population annually.

• Approximately 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year. The incidence of ALS is two per 100,000 people, and it is estimated that as many as 30,000 Americans may have the disease at any given time.

• Although the life expectancy of an ALS patient averages about two to five years from the time of diagnosis, this disease is variable and many people live with quality for five years and more.  More than half of all patients live more than three years after diagnosis.

• About twenty percent of people with ALS live five years or more and up to ten percent will survive more than ten years and five percent will live 20 years. There are people in whom ALS has stopped progressing and a small number of people in whom the symptoms of ALS reversed.

• ALS occurs throughout the world with no racial, ethnic or socioeconomic boundaries.

• ALS can strike anyone.

• The onset of ALS is insidious with muscle weakness or stiffness as early symptoms. Progression of weakness, wasting and paralysis of the muscles of the limbs and trunk as well as those that control vital functions such as speech, swallowing and later breathing generally follows.

• There can be significant costs for medical care, equipment and home health caregiving later in the disease.

Source for above information: www.alsa.org

How You Can Help

Learn More About ALS

Get Involved

Donate to The ALS Association (yes, take the Ice Bucket Challenge!)