ALS Association: Ice Bucket Challenge Actually Had A Dramatic Impact

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The 2014 challenge that had people dumping buckets of ice over themselves had a significant impact on the ALS Association.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, is a disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and in the spinal chord. Those affected can lose the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge took over social media when users posted videos of their challenge and then asked friends and family to either donate or complete the challenge themselves.

WJZ even got in on the charitable fun, with Marty Bass and Linh Bui and Ron Matz all getting drenched for a good cause.

At the time, there was a lot of talk about whether or not this was truly helping the association. Two years later, we see just how much it did.

According to the ALS Association, during an eight-week period in 2014, $115 million was donated as part of the Ice Bucket Challenge. Of that, $77 million was dedicated to research for treatments and a cure. Along with that, $7.5 million went to the ALS Research Program at the Department of Defense to study why veterans are two times as likely to develop the disease.

Over the past two years of ALS research, three new genes were discovered that will help identify new therapies. There was also a 100 percent increase in funding to ALS Certified Treatment Centers of Excellence to better patient care.

The Ice Bucket Challenge brought awareness to a disease that many had never heard of. The ALS Association still encourages donations and support to keep funding research in order to find better treatments and a cure.

For more information on ALS and how to donate you can click here.

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