{"id":358763,"date":"2026-07-02T16:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T16:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/358763\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T16:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T16:32:09","slug":"chris-johnson-brings-back-ice-bucket-challenge-amid-als-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/358763\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Johnson brings back Ice Bucket Challenge amid ALS battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former NFL star Chris Johnson is bringing back the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness of ALS as he fights the fatal nervous system disease.<\/p>\n<p>The Ice Bucket Challenge gained popularity in the summer of 2014 as a way to raise ALS awareness. People took a video or photo as they got a bucket of ice water dumped on them, and they\u2019d challenge friends or relatives to do the same.<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.als.net\/ice-bucket-challenge\/\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ALS Therapy Development Institute,<\/a> the drive helped raise an estimated $135 million in the United States and $220 million worldwide in the fight against ALS.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson attempted to boost the cause once more in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DaQogf2FI1N\/?img_index=1\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram post<\/a> Wednesday, two days after announcing on \u201cGood Morning America\u201d that he\u2019s dealing with ALS.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson said he was inspired after watching former Utah men\u2019s basketball player Hunter Mecum post an Instagram video in which he dumped ice water on his head to honor the 40-year-old former running back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe support you\u2019ve shown me over the last few days has meant more than I can put into words,\u201d Johnson said in his post. \u201cSeeing this video reminded me of something powerful. Years ago, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge united millions of people around one cause and helped change the fighting against this disease. Today, I\u2019m asking you to help me do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson challenged former All-Pro running back Marshawn Lynch and former Tennessee Titans teammates LenDale White and Adam \u201cPacman\u201d Jones to participate. Johnson later added Instagram Story posts showing White and others getting doused with water.<\/p>\n<p>In his \u201cGood Morning America\u201d interview, Johnson said he was diagnosed with ALS last year.<\/p>\n<p>The 2008 first-round draft pick from East Carolina rushed for 9,651 yards during a 10-year career that included stints with the Titans (2008-13), New York Jets (2014) and Arizona Cardinals (2015-17). He rushed for 2,006 yards and was The Associated Press offensive player of the year in 2009.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former NFL star Chris Johnson is bringing back the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness of ALS as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[88427,61026,23681,59373,202,87541,85964,85963,85962,69360,59371,196,42093,73295,42094,49691,88795,198,199,87652,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-358763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-ap-test","tag-chris-johnson","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-product-30027-ap-arizona-state-news-no-weather","tag-product-30079-ap-new-jersey-state-news-no-weather","tag-product-30083-ap-new-york-city-news-no-weather","tag-product-30085-ap-new-york-state-news-no-weather","tag-product-30107-ap-tennessee-state-news-no-weather","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-32000-ap-online-football-news","tag-product-32538-ap-online-health-and-medical-news","tag-product-32562-ap-online-other-sports-news","tag-product-40774-ap-arizona-sports-only","tag-product-40800-ap-new-jersey-sports-only","tag-product-40802-ap-new-york-city-sports-only","tag-product-40803-ap-new-york-state-sports-only","tag-product-40814-ap-tennessee-sports-only","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}