Man who inspired the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge celebrates birth of 1st child

Pete Frates pictured taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: His wife Julie, in the black dress, gave birth on Sunday to a baby girl they are calling Lucy

The man who inspired the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, the viral sensation which is raising money to fight Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), has become a new dad.

Pete Frates announced on Sunday that his wife, Julie, had given birth to Lucy Fitzgerald Frates, a healthy baby girl who weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces.

‘Little Lucy Frates has arrived and Mom, Dad and Lucy are perfect,’ Frates wrote on his Facebook page. 

Frates, 29, who lives in Beverly, Massachusetts is a former captain of Boston College Baseball.

In 2012 he was diagnosed with ALS – also known as Lou Gehrig's disease – a degenerative disease that hits the nerves and the brain and can lead to paralysis and death. 

 

There is no cure, though a treatment now available can extend the life expectancy for its sufferers.

Since his diagnosis, Frates has devoted much of his time to raising awareness about the condition and along with his family and friends he came up with the ice bucket challenge as a creative way to get people excited about raising money for ALS research. 

The social media craze sees people getting drenched in a chilly mixture of freezing cold water and ice cubes and a host of star have taken part including Oprah Winfrey and Matt Damon.

After gaining incredible momentum through social media during July and August, more than 3 million people around the world have joined in the challenge and raised more than $100 million for the ALS Association. 

By comparison, the ALS Association raised $2.8 million during the same time period last year. 

Pete Frates’ father John Frates told WCVB that the birth was 'the perfect ending to the miracle month of August.'

Frates wrote that baby Lucy's arrival was an ‘amazing blessing as the exclamation point to the miraculous month of August 2014!’

Before Pete Frates was diagnosed with ALS in 2012, he had been captain of Boston College Baseball

The Ice Bucket Challenge, sometimes called the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, is an activity involving dumping a bucket of ice water on someone's head to promote awareness of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and encourage donations to research. It went viral on social media during July-August 2014. In the US, many people participate for theALS Association, and in the UK, many people participate for the Motor Neurone Disease Association, although some individuals have opted to donate their money from the Ice Bucket Challenge to other organizations.

The challenge dares nominated participants to be filmed having a bucket of ice water poured on their heads and then nominating others to do the same. A common stipulation is that nominated participants have 24 hours to comply or forfeit by way of a charitable financial donation.

 Culled from DAILY MAIL