Pete Frates a former US athlete who inspired ‘ice bucket challenge’ dies at 34

A former US
college baseball player who helped inspire the global phenomenon known as the
“ice bucket challenge” to tackle a deadly neurodegenerative disease has died at
the age of 34, his family said Monday.

A one-time
college athlete from the Boston area, Pete Frates’ struggle with ALS, also
known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, was one of the inspirations behind the ice
bucket challenge which took social media by storm in 2014.

Millions
took up the challenge which involved dousing themselves with a bucket of ice
cold water and posting the video online, before making a donation to medical
research and daring others to do the same.

A galaxy of
celebrities, high-profile personalities and entire sports teams took part in
the challenge, including Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg, Bill Gates and even
former US president George W. Bush.

The campaign
has reportedly raised more than $200 million to fund research into ALS, whose
sufferers’ bodies slowly shut down as their nervous systems degenerate.

The
condition, officially known as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is more commonly
called Lou Gehrig’s disease after another baseball player who died of it in
1941.