UMass Medical Chancellor, Doctor Take 'Ice Bucket Challenge' To Honor Late Gov. Cellucci
WORCESTER (CBS) - The Chancellor of UMass Medical School and one of the top ALS researchers in the country stood tall as first year medical students dumped buckets of ice cold water over their heads in the name of a good cause.
Chancellor Mike Collins and Dr. Robert Brown are personal friends of the late Massachusetts Governor Paul Cellucci. Governor Cellucci died last summer from the debilitating ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Prior to his death, Governor Cellucci made it his mission to raise money to help find a cure for ALS, which causes progressive muscle weakness, leading to paralysis and eventually death.
In his honor, the pair challenged WBZ viewers to donate to the UMass ALS Cellucci Fund. That fund helps Dr. Brown continue his research which has included the identification of mutations in a gene that is responsible for the rare, familial form of the disease.
Prompted by supporters of ALS patient and former Boston College baseball player Peter Frates, several members of the WBZ on-air team were enlisted in the "ice bucket challenge." Videos of high-profile "challengers" like former Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek and Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins have been sweeping the internet this week.
To support the UMass ALS Cellucci Fund visit UMassALS.com.
Watch the Ice Bucket Challenge:
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