Prayers for Pete
ALS BATTLE: FRATES HOSPITALIZED
Peter Frates, who attained celebrity status by enlisting millions of people to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to fight ALS through the Ice Bucket Challenge, has been hospitalized as he continues to fight the disease, according to family members.
Nancy Frates wrote on Twitter, which was then linked to the Team Frate-Train Facebook page yesterday, that her son was at Massachusetts General Hospital this weekend.
“Hello Team Frate Train, please keep our family and especially Pete in your prayers. Pete is back at MGH and battling this beast ALS like a Superhero. We feel your love and support and are so grateful. Prayer and love — the most powerful of medicines! Thank you!”
She also tweeted Friday: “I HATE ALS! Back at MGH. Prayers for Pete. #toughestguyIknow.”
Peter Frates’ brother, John Frates, texted the Herald’s Steve Buckley yesterday, “Lots of thoughts & prayers being felt. He’s battling the Beast with all he’s got.”
Frates, a former captain of the Boston College baseball team, was 27 in March 2012, when he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
News of Frates’ latest setback prompted well wishes over the Internet.
Gov. Charlie Baker tweeted: “FYI — please keep @PeteFrates3, @momfrates & the rest of their friends and family in your prayers. They do great work. #StrikeOutALS.”
Frates became the face of the viral phenomenon the Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014.
The philanthropic endeavor caught fire on the internet as people hoisted buckets filled with ice water over their heads and announced their charitable donations for the cause.
It drew famous participants such as LeBron James and Bill Gates.
The ALS Association reported the challenge raised $115 million during a two-month period in 2014, of which $77 million was devoted to research.
Funding from the Ice Bucket Challenge has been credited with helping fuel a breakthrough. The ALS Association announced last summer researchers identified a gene connected to the disease. The discovery is helping researchers hone in on a target as they seek to develop a cure, the ALS Association said.
ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.
The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons by ALS eventually leads to their destruction. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, people may lose the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe.