f54c7fbc9c79116767eafeacc4079e91.jpg

LAMBERTVILLE: Mayors take icy dunking

They join craze to raise money to fight ALS

By John Tredrea, Special Writer
On Sunday, Lambertville Mayor David DelVecchio accepted the challenge by New Hope Mayor Laurence Keller and a bucket of ice water was dumped over hizzoner’s head.
"They got their money’s worth on this one," Mr. DelVecchio said. "My sons Matthew and Alex dumped the water onto my head. They had a good time making sure I got a good soaking."
Mayor Keller took the dunking, too, as part of the Ice Bucket Challenge, sponsored by the ALS Foundation to promote awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and to encourage donations for research on the disease.
Mayor DelVecchio said he made an online donation to the ALS Foundation. "If everyone does little, it’ll have a significant impact," he said Monday. "It’s not about someone writing a huge check. It’s about a lot of people writing for small checks to help with research."
The Ice Bucket Challenge is raising a lot of money to combat ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Mr. Gehrig, a Hall of Fame player for the New York Yankees, died of ALS in 1941.
The ALS Foundation’s website said Monday that $79.7 million had been raised by the Ice Bucket Challenge program. Seven and half million dollars of that amount had been raised in the previous 24 hours.
While there is not a cure or treatment today that halts or reverses ALS, there is one FDA approved drug, riluzole, that modestly slows the progression of ALS as well as several other drugs in clinical trials that hold promise, the ALS Foundation website said. The disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that can result in total paralysis of victims in its later stages.
To see a video of Mayor DelVecchio being doused with ice water, go to Lambertville’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CityGovernmentofLambertville.