It's all over the place. The Ice Bucket Challenge to support ALS has been making the rounds in a huge way. I don't know many people among my circle of friends who haven't taken the challenge. My wife and I did it just last night.

Actors, musicians and athletes have gone to extravagant lengths to outdo each other in the form their challenges take. They've used buckets, fire hoses, fire trucks and many other means to deliver icy water onto themselves. It's been fun to watch.

But let's not forget why it's all happening. This video is a touching reminder of what the Ice Bucket Challenge is all about. I don't know the guy in this video, but he reminds me of someone I do know.

I have a friend in the Twin Cities who is dealing with ALS. He's in his 30's. He's married. He's got two young children. He spent his whole life being active. Now, he's dying and there's nothing that anybody can do about it.

As the disease progresses, his body will slowly shut down. His muscles will atrophy. He'll have trouble speaking, then swallowing, and then even breathing. At some point, he'll need a respirator to make his lungs pump oxygen. He'll have to be fed through a tube directly into his stomach. His short-term outlook? Paralysis and death.

So as we all continue to enjoy the Ice Bucket Challenge for the next several days, or weeks, or until the next viral video craze arrives, don't forget what this is all really about. People are suffering, and dying, of ALS every day. Let's hope the money raised by so many people pouring ice and water over themselves can have a positive impact on finding treatments or, better yet, a cure to this terrible disease.

If you haven't done the Ice Bucket Challenge yet, do it! The KROC Morning Show's Dunken and Samm did it earlier this week!. They challenged Tom Overlie and Robin Wolfram from KTTC, and Tom and Robin accepted the challenge. Lew and Ace, from KROC, did it, too. Let's continue to raise awareness and money for ALS!

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