The ice water challenge: it’s the latest craze on Facebook and it’s going viral. All over the world the young (and not-so-young) and foolish, are accepting the invitation from their friends to be videoed during the challenge, which requires the volunteer, or ‘victim’, to stand barefoot in a bucket of iced water while a friend pours another bucket of ice-cold water over them.
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The purpose is to raise funds for charity by accepting donations for agreeing to the challenge.
The dare has been doing the rounds of social media for some weeks now and has made its way to our region.
A parent of one student at Lumen Christi college told the News Weekly that 17 of her 14-year-old son’s friends from school took part in the challenge last Sunday evening, July 27.
The dare is not without its risks and there have been published reports of death in New Zealand and the USA when two people died after completing the challenge.
In the New Zealand case, the man had also consumed a large amount of alcohol, and he died from a cardiac arrest several hours later.
Doctors warn that there are risks associated with the prank. With the challenge usually being performed outdoors, Tura Beach Medical Centre’s Dr Angela Nimmo said that there was a risk of hypothermia, which could be serious depending on how long the person was exposed.
“There’s also the potential wind chill factor,” she said. Dr Nimmo said the person should be wrapped in a warm blanket straight away.
“It is important to get the core temperature back to normal,” she said, adding that the challenge should not be performed without supervision.