Maritimers mark 10th anniversary of ALS Ice Bucket Challenge with calls to bring it back

A whole decade later, there are calls to bring back a trend which brought attention and donations to a good cause.

From celebrities like Lebron James and Martha Stewart, to former U.S. presidents like George W. Bush, it seemed nearly everyone was getting dunked for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge after it was started on Aug. 6, 2014 by Pat Quinn – a resident of New York state who later died from the disease.

More locally, the cause meant a lot to the family of Darryl Bach of Glace Bay, N.S.

Bach was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2012, and remained upbeat throughout his fight before passing away in 2016 at the age of 52.

"It was an immense loss to us, and we really miss him,” said his wife, Sheena Bach. "When he was diagnosed, he didn't even know what ALS was – and many people didn't."

Today, Bach’s wife and two daughters remember how the Ice Bucket Challenge not only raised awareness, but how much he benefited from the money raised.

"Darryl needed a manual wheelchair – he got it,” Sheena said. “He got an electric wheelchair, he got a hospital bed, neck brace, leg braces."

The challenge ended up raising more than $220 million worldwide – including more than $800,000 in the Maritimes.

Now, the ALS Society of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick hopes people will do it again a decade later, adding much of the money raised will stay at home.

"Sidney Crosby really started the Ice Bucket Challenge here in Nova Scotia when he did it in early August (2014), and then it really caught on across Canada,” said Kimberly Carter, president and CEO of the ALS Society of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. "Fifty per cent will go to research for Project MIN and also for the brain repair centre right here in Halifax that studies neurological diseases, and the other 50 per cent will help purchase breathing equipment for people living with ALS."

Business professor Ed McHugh said while he doesn't want to throw 'cold water' on the idea, it might be hard for history to repeat itself.

However, he said the best chance at an ice bucket challenge repeat might lie with families directly impacted by the disease.

"They would be the people who would be the most liable to try and bring it back,” McHugh said.

Either way, it's the 10-year anniversary of an online phenomenon that changed the conversation about ALS.

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