Pete Frates, a 29 year old former captain of the Boston College baseball team, was diagonised with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in March 2012. In March 2013, he delivered a speech at the Food and Drug Administration, Washington, calling for awareness regarding this disease and speeding up the process for finding its cure.
Frates was introduced to the ice bucket challenge by a friend and it was being done by several people to raise funds for any charity organisation of their choice. Frates then used this challenge by nominating his friends to raise funds for his own organisation called the 'Pete Frates #3 Fund' as well as 'Team Frate Train', which is committed to ALS organisations working towards research and patient care.
His friend Corey Griffin, who started the ice bucket challenge and helped him, recently died in a diving accident. Before his death, Griffin had raised as much as $100,000 for the cause he and his friend believed in. Frates mourned the death of his friend on his Facebook page.
The Ice Bucket Challenge soon went viral with Hollywood stars like Chris Pratt, Charlie Sheen and Lady Gaga taking it up and giving rise to the hash tag #ALSIceBucketChallenge. Bollywood celebrities too took up this challenge.
Have a look at Frates' story: