Why are people dumping ice water on their heads!?

Unless you have been living under a rock, you have been seeing all these people, famous and not-so-famous, dumping buckets of ice water on their heads. You may be wondering why? Simple, it is to raise money and awareness for ALS. For those not exactly sure what that is (c'mon, admit it...there are a few of you {me} who did not know exactly what ALS is besides just some disease), I have provided you with that information below.

From Wikipedia: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—also referred to as motor neurone disease (MND), Charcot disease, and, in the United States, Lou Gehrig's disease—is a neurodegenerative disease with various causes. ALS is characterised by muscle spasticity, rapidly progressive weakness due to muscle atrophy, and difficulty in speaking (dysarthria), swallowing (dysphagia), and breathing (dyspnea). ALS is the most common of the five motor neuron diseases.

In the U.S., more than 5,600 are diagnosed every year, and up to 30,000 Americans are currently affected. ALS is responsible for 2 deaths per 100,000 people.^[1]

Median survival time from onset to death is 39 months, and only 4% survive longer than 10 years, although rare cases survive 50 years or more. Most die from respiratory failure, usually within three to five years from onset of symptoms.

Now, for what you came to see...

However, in addition to the challenge, I have also sent my own donation of $100 and ask that each of you reading this send just $5. If you do so, and then email me at twbrown.maydecpub@gmail.com, I will give you the choice of any of my audible titles OR the epub or MOBI (depending on your ereader device) in my library. Yep, I will be taking you at your word.

Also, wish me luck. Saturday I will be running in a half-marathon (13+ mile obstacle course that starts with a half mile swim) called Inferno. This is my longest distance to date.