SharePoint Community ALS Icebucket Challenge… What’s all the Fuss about?

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Joel Oleson

A couple years ago if someone asked me what ALS was I’d guess it was a technical term related to some kind of security token. Then I found out I had a good friend who had Lou Gherigs disease. I’d heard of that, but didn’t know anyone personally who had it. The past few years I’ve been blessed with some incredible global travel experiences and opportunity to launch communities and training in some amazing parts of the world… from China, Vietnam, and Philippines to Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile. After that trip I found out that our Sharing the Point reporter and blogger John Anderson, was inflicted with ALS. At that time it was very private, but he wanted to let us know that it may be his last trip with us. He was noticeably shaking and told us about how much harder it was to type. We were able to do one more trip to Africa where we hiked Kilimanjaro and launched a SharePoint user group in Kenya. (Yes, the one that met a year later on the day of the shooting in Nairobi.) John was able to go on a Serengeti safari while we were on the mountain. This would be our last trip with him. He is now in a wheel chair. The Bamboo solutions team still considers him part of the team which is awesome. They’ve seen him through this awful disease. I’m sure he doesn’t like this attention that he’s getting. He doesn’t want to be an example, but I think it helps to put a face to what happens.

John Anderson’s experience explained in his own IceBucket challenge

http://youtu.be/ZFbq_-GsZvI

Just a couple of weeks ago, I saw my first IceBucket challenger. It was Bill Gates putting something he had constructed to dump ice on his head. It was pretty awesome to see him challenge Mark Zuckerberg and see him accept. Bonnie Surma had sent me the link and said… Wouldn’t it be great to get the SharePoint community involved in this?

I was busy with my move to the San Diego area, and while I would have loved to have gotten involved I was concerned I couldn’t give it the attention it needed. So I blew it off, until I was in Houston for work, and Naomi Moneypenny asked me if I would accept the challenge if she challenged me at the Houston SharePoint User Group meeting. I told her… Sure! I’d accept, and please bring an extra bag of ice for me.

So Naomi takes the lead…

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152694101877803

Kanwal, Naomi, Richard, Sean

Mark Rackley and Benjamin Niaulin and even Todd Klindt

That night 5 SharePoint people did the #ALSIceBucket challenge right in front of me. I was last to go, and took the opportunity to challenge a few friends who were with me when John shared his ALS story. I challenged Dux Raymond Sy @meetdux , I mentioned Bamboo in my story @bamboonation , Michael Noel @michaeltnoel , and Mark Miller @eusp .