Pete Frates, Ice Bucket Challenge inspiration, gets help with medical bills
BEVERLY, Mass. -- The man who inspired the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise millions of dollars for Lou Gehrig's disease research will get some help covering his medical bills.
The Salem News reports that Pete Frates and his family are being helped by a new program from the ALS Association that covers the uninsured cost of skilled home care for several ALS patients in Massachusetts each year.
Lynn Aaronson, the executive director of the Massachusetts chapter of the ALS Association, tells CBS Boston the group's new Pete Frates Home Health Initiative was created to help ease the cost of care for ALS patients.
"This is really going to help a minimum of three and a goal of five patients in a very real way by paying most of their home health care needs," Aaronson said. "We're right at the tail end of being able to give out the first of our grants, and hopefully Pete will be one of those recipients. A lot of these people are friends of Peter Frates, and it is their desire that he hopefully will be one of the recipients of this grant."
Frates' parents have said his medical bills can reach $80,000 to $95,000 each month.
The program was a response to a survey the ALS Association sent out to patients and caregivers that showed the cost of home health care was the No. 1 problem they faced. There's an application process and an anonymous review process to go through to qualify for funds.
Frates has been at Massachusetts General Hospital for the past few days, but it is expected that his home care will continue. His mother, Nancy, said that he was "resting comfortably" after a false report that he had died Monday morning.
Frates, 32, is the driving force behind the Ice Bucket Challenge, a fundraising phenomenon that has raised over $250 million for ALS research in three years.
The former Boston College baseball star was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2012.