28-11-2016
PRESS RELEASE: The never-ending Mannequin Challenge
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Leuven, November 28, 2016 – The past few weeks it has been impossible to ignore the new internet hype called “The Mannequin Challenge”. Between the many different viral videos, there were a few magnificent ones. But just when you thought you had seen them all, a new Mannequin challenge pops up, confronting you in a very dramatical way with life.
The first seconds you are watching a regular Mannequin Challenge: you see a medical lab with researchers and professors in white coats that – as they are supposed to – remain motionless while the camera winds its way through the area. But when the last mannequin appears, the challenge gets a whole other meaning. While the researchers continue their activities, the last mannequin remains motionless. The person carries a sign that says “For ALS-patients, every day is a Mannequin Challenge.” It’s clear that this person has ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), a progressive neurological disease that causes dysfunction of the nerves that control muscle movement, leading to muscle weakness, gradually affecting nerves that control breathing and other vital bodily functions, resulting in death within 2 to 5 years’ time. A disease that cannot possibly leave people unmoved.
The Belgian ALS League and the researchers in the movie are in need of funds to continue their research on ALS. You can help by donating and sharing this video.
Watch the video here
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About the ALS League
ALS or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a deadly nerve muscle disease causing motor neurons to die. ALS can be described as a disease which gradually paralyses the body completely from the neck onwards. You, the patient, can no longer move, talk, swallow or breath and you become captured within your own body. Emotional, intellectual and sensory capacities remain intact. On average, patients die 33 months after diagnosis, without any hope of healing. Worldwide, more than 450.000 people suffer from ALS, which equals approximately 7 in 100.000. The ALS League Belgium is a non-profit non-subsidized organization, aiming at rendering the last years of the ALS patients lives more agreeable and at supporting their families. To this end psychosocial and administrative help, equipment to improve mobility and communication are provided, contacts with governmental services to defend the patient’s rights are established, scientific research is stimulated and financed via the “A cure for ALS” fund and tailor-made care is accommodated via the “MaMuze” fund.