The world may have moved on from the Ice Bucket Challenge, but the man who inspired the internet craze is still battling for his life.
According to a post on a family Facebook page, Pete Frates was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital on Sunday. Frates, 32, has been suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease) for the past five years. While asking for “Prayer and love – the most powerful of medicines,” his family said Frates continues to battle “this beast ALS like a superhero.”
https://www.facebook.com/TeamFratetrain/posts/1340111102709928
Reports circulated on Twitter Monday morning that Frates had died, but an update posted to the Facebook page confirmed Frates was resting comfortably.
https://www.facebook.com/TeamFratetrain/posts/1341022972618741
Then, Frates himself proved it, tweeting a video of himself with a clip from Pearl Jam’s “Alive.”
in the words of my friend
— Pete Frates (@PeteFrates3) July 3, 2017
ed pic.twitter.com/g7iIR4rfmT
The Ice Bucket Challenge—in which citizens around the world dumped buckets of ice water on their heads, donated to the ALS Association, and then verbally tagged friends and colleagues in what was basically a freezing cold modern-day chain letter—raised $220 million in the first two years after the stunt took off.
Johns Hopkins also credited the challenge with helping researchers determine a possible cause of ALS and one way the debilitating disease can be slowed.