You Changed This Man’s Life And Perhaps The Lives Of Thousands More

We love to find out when our posts are making a real difference in people’s lives. We’ve shared with you some of our favorite examples of this in the past, and today we are moved to be sharing another one.

So, you may be sick of watching people getting ice dumped over their heads. But if you’re one of the millions of people who took time to watch this video in the last 24 hours, you also know that the cause is really important.

Here’s the thing that stood out to us from the video: Yes, the ice bucket challenge may be goofy. But ALS — a debilitating, really scary disease — may never have this kind of spotlight again, and because there’s no profit incentive to invest in a cure, donations are the best hope.

Since we posted it yesterday, not only have millions of people watched and shared it, but Anthony, the young man in the video, told us that it spurred tens of thousands of dollars in donations to his fundraiser. He also has thousands of emails in his inbox from people reaching out, and a bunch of major TV shows have reached out to him.

A bunch of us on the Upworthy team are chipping in to Anthony’s fundraiser here, and we wanted to give y'all the opportunity to do the same. If you’re moved by the video and want to contribute to the ALS Therapy Development Institute, just click here.

We’ll let you know how it goes. And as always, we feel really lucky to be surrounded by such a caring, good-spirited community of people.

UPDATE: Wow, we’re blown away. On Thursday, the day that we featured this video on the site, the ALS Association reportedly raised $10 million! Not too shabby, y'all.