Boston Bruins: Ice Bucket Challenge Leads To ALS Breakthrough
The Boston Bruins have always been trend-setters. They were one of the Original Six teams. They were the first team to integrate in the NHL. A few years ago, the Black and Gold helped did their part to bring attention to a serious disease. The B’s helped promote the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’, an event that spawned into a literal global phenomenon.
Sure it was silly. We watched the entire Black and Gold team dump ice water on their heads. Some took it stoically, some yelped and squealed, and some did it when a genuine smile on their faces.
Back in 2014, Boston Bruins forward Gregory Campbell led the charge for the Black and Gold. Campbell did it to help out a friend of the Bruins family, Pete Frates. Frates was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects neurons in the brain and the spinal cord.
Campbell helped raise awareness about the disease and shared it with the world on social media. Gregory Campbell passed the challenge on to Brad Marchand, Marchand passed it on to other Bruins who passed it on to other NHL players, who then helped spread it around the world. Even Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs got in on the act.
In just two months, the Ice Bucket Challenge raised over $200 million dollars for ALS research.
All that ice water dumped on people’s heads has led to a recent breakthrough. The University of Massachusetts medical school have released findings that a new gene was found in ALS patients. The project and the research done under it was funded via the Ice Bucket Challenge.
More from Bruins News
- Bruins release Prospects Challenge roster, schedule Tuesday
- Bruins bringing back familiar forward on tryout contract
- The Bruins should take a look at these four free agents
- NHL Network lists Ullmark as sixth-best goalie in the league
- The Lasting Legacy of David Krejci
“The discovery of NEK1 highlights the value of big data in ALS research,” said Lucie Bruijn, PhD, MBA, of The ALS Association. “The sophisticated gene analysis that led to this finding was only possible because of the large number of ALS samples available. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge enabled The ALS Association to invest in Project MinE’s work to create large biorepositories of ALS biosamples that are designed to allow exactly this kind of research and to produce exactly this kind of result.”
This is an important step in developing new treatments for the disease, and its all thanks to Gregory Campbell taking a couple of minutes out of his day to help a good buddy out.
Next: Prospects Who Could Make The Bruins Roster
The Black and Gold have done a lot of good for the people of Boston this last century. Now they’re doing their part to stamp out Lou Gehrig’s disease.