The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge | 3

12/17/20 • 51 min

On this episode of Global News What Happened To...?,, journalist Erica Vella revisits the story of the ice bucket challenge.

In 2014, social media feeds were flooded with videos of people showering themselves in ice cold water; the goal was to raise awareness and money for ALS.

Julie Frates’ husband, Pete Frates, was one of the co-creators.

“Our good friend Pat Quinn, who has ALS and lives in New York, he was challenged and in that challenge, he also named one of Pete's good friends,” she said.

“Pete saw it immediately and thought, okay ... everyone's got to get on this right away and I remember sitting down that night at dinner and he directed all of us to go on Facebook and just continually start challenging people and sharing it.”

The campaign went viral; celebrities like Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon and Bill Gates joined in on the dare and globally over $220 million dollars was raised.

“It was unfathomable,” she said.

“It was shocking for us and it was shocking for everyone in the medical community. Everyone who had spent their whole career trying to research this disease; it was kind of like such a huge windfall. It was amazing and overwhelming and completely hard to grasp.”

Pete was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2012. The disease weakens muscles and impairs physical functioning. There is no known cure.

Erica Vella speaks with the family that started the viral campaign to see what has happened since 2014 and endeavors to answer; did it lead to any positive change?

Contact:

Twitter: @ericavella

Email: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Global News What Happened To...?,, journalist Erica Vella revisits the story of the ice bucket challenge.

In 2014, social media feeds were flooded with videos of people showering themselves in ice cold water; the goal was to raise awareness and money for ALS.

Julie Frates’ husband, Pete Frates, was one of the co-creators.

“Our good friend Pat Quinn, who has ALS and lives in New York, he was challenged and in that challenge, he also named one of Pete's good friends,” she said.

The campaign went viral; celebrities like Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon and Bill Gates joined in on the dare and globally over $220 million dollars was raised.

“It was unfathomable,” she said.

Pete was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2012. The disease weakens muscles and impairs physical functioning. There is no known cure.

Erica Vella speaks with the family that started the viral campaign to see what has happened since 2014 and endeavors to answer; did it lead to any positive change?

Contact:

Twitter: @ericavella

Email: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

33 trapped Chilean miners | 2

On this episode of the Global News What Happened To...?, journalist Erica Vella revisits the story of the 33 trapped Chilean miners.

On Aug. 5, 2010, the San Jose Mine in Chile collapsed while 33 men were underground. Mario Sepulveda, who has worked in the mining industry for almost two decades, spoke to Global News through a translator and said he remembers the day vividly.

At approximately 2 p.m., Sepulveda said he began hearing really loud noises.

Above ground, teams of people had been working to find the trapped miners, unaware if they had survived, but on Aug. 22, contact was made with the 33 men after a drill broke through.

For 69 days in 2010, the world held its breath hoping for the safe return of 33 men trapped in a mine in Chile and people from all over the world helped in the rescue – including members of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Erica Vella speaks with one of the miners and members of the teams that helped in the rescue. She also finds out what changes were made to the mining industry following the collapse.

Contact:

Twitter: @ericavella

Email: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next Episode

SARS | 4

On this episode of Global News What Happened To...?, journalist Erica Vella revisits the SARS epidemic that gripped parts of Canada in 2003.

This year has been an unprecedented year as the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic, but 17 years ago, parts of the world faced another coronavirus -- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, better known as SARS.

Erica Vella looks back at the SARS epidemic and explains how one super-spreading event brought the virus to Toronto, where health-care workers were among the hardest hit.

Sylvia Gordon was working in the critical care unit at Scarborough Grace Hospital in 2003 and there was one day in early March that she recalls vividly.

“I was doing a day shift -- a 12-hour day shift -- we had trouble staffing and I stayed on for an extra hour or so,” she said.

“Just as I was on my way out the door, I heard deep snoring. I thought, wow somebody is in trouble. I went in the room and sure enough, the patient was having like a cardiac arrest. So I put my bag down and called a code and we began resuscitating him.”

At the time, Gordon had no idea that the patient she was resuscitating had SARS and she was now infected with the virus.

“Initially I thought I was coming down with the flu. It was, you know -- you're coughing and you're feeling lethargic, running the temperature and just body pain, aches and pains all over,” she said.

Gordon called in sick and explained what she was feeling.

“I was told 'gosh, you know, you're not the first one. We've been getting a number of calls from other colleagues that they're not able to make it to work, that they're ill.' And then I started figuring out, well, maybe we contracted something. So I started calling my colleagues and then they described the same symptoms.”

In Canada, there were 438 probable and suspect SARS cases reported and there were 44 deaths that included three health-care workers.

Globally, the virus killed more than 800 people.

Erica Vella finds out what changes were made following the SARS epidemic to protect health-care workers in Ontario and most importantly, if it helped in the battle ahead with COVID-19.

Contact:

Twitter: @ericavella

Email: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices