Croatian Writer Edo Popovic Slams ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

NBA star Yao Ming being doused with ice water in an `ice bucket challenge` during a a graduation ceremony for students of his NBA Yao school in Beijing. Photo: EPA/BGNES

Famous Croatian writer Edo Popovic, whose mother passed away of ALS, slammed the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, reports Index.hr.

He writes on his Facebook profile that he was saddened that this serious condition was turned into a reality circus. 

“My mother passed away of ALS a year and a half ago,” he wrote. “It is a terrible disease, which probably more than any other destroys both body and soul. In all other conditions there is hope for cure, it may be weak and barely flickering, as in cancer, but there is always hope. But with ALS there is no hope – when you're diagnosed, you have four years at most, until you draw your last breath. This is like knowing exactly when you'll die. It is a terrible burden both for the person with the condition and their dearest and nearest. And now I watch those “celebrities” as they pour iced water on their heads, pretending to be concerned about this terrible disease. As far as I am concerned – may the devil take them. Watching this circus and remembering the last words of my mother, I feel as if someone is spitting in my face. I don't know, it may be a good idea, but the implementation is terrible. They managed to reduce a deadly disease to a Dancing Stars reality show.”

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