Minnesotans Living With ALS Feel the Love From Ice Bucket Challenge Proceeds

Two years after its months-long viral video craze, the Ice Bucket Challenge is paying off for Minnesota residents who are living with ALS.

The challenge asked participants to film themselves pouring ice buckets over their own heads and then nominate a friend to do the same within 24 hours in the name of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The ALS Association received $115 million in donations worldwide.

A portion of that went to the regional ALS Association, which has acquired nearly 130 new pieces of medical equipment, according to the Star Tribune. Of the 30,000 people living with the neurodegenerative disorder, most commonly known as Lou Gehrig's diseases, about 400 are Minnesota residents.

"The equipment purchase is perhaps the most tangible impact of a fundraising campaign that has wildly exceeded all expectations," the Start Tribune reports. "Earlier this week, the ALS Association announced that money raised from the Ice Bucket Challenge helped scientists identify a new gene, called NEK1, found to be among the most common among people afflicted with ALS."

The article interviews several people living with the disease, including 50-year-old Mendota Heights resident, Steve Lufkin, who was diagnosed a few months before the campaign.

The Henry Sibley High School teacher said he was flooded with support.

"It really made me feel loved at a time of not really knowing what the future held," he said, in the article.