Photo: Suzanne Sausville/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The 10th anniversary of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge brought a crowd to Fenway Park on Thursday to honor the man who started it all, Pete Frates, a Massachusetts resident and Boston College baseball player who succumbed to the disease in 2019.
Many of those who knew Frates, who raised hundreds of millions of dollars through his foundation to help find a cure for the disease, spoke about him individually, remembering the day they first met him.
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“Pete was one of the first guys that I met at Boston College,” one of his friends recalled.
“I met Pete Frates about six months before he was diagnosed,” said another.
His doctor Merit Cudkowicz also spoke at the event about Frates determination to find a cure for ALS.
“I first met Pete at Mass General [and] instead of talking about him, he asked me: ‘what’s it going to take, to cure this illness’? To make an impact?”
Photo: Suzanne Sausville/WBZ NewsRadio
Photo: Suzanne Sausville/WBZ NewsRadio
Photo: Suzanne Sausville/WBZ NewsRadio
Frates’ mother Nancy Frates said that the challenge means that her son’s life was one of grace, determination, and purpose.
“That through his resilience, diligence, and courage, he created a movement that is still being celebrated today,” she said.
Then in an ultimate tribute to Frates’ life and legacy, more than 100 people stood on the field at Fenway Park and poured ice cold water on their heads.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Suzanne Sausville (@WBZSausville) reports.
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