In Western Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska; there are more than 11,000 people living with the chronic, and often disabling disease known as Multiple Sclerosis or, MS. On April 21, 2012, this year’s Walk MS event is being held for Johnson County.
This walk is a fundraising event to help the Greater Delaware Valley Chapter fund research to stop the progression of the disease, restore what was lost, and end it forever.
MS attacks the Central Nervous System, which includes the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves, causing nerve signals to slow down or even stop. There are many places in the body where symptoms can occur, such as in the muscles, eyes, bladder, speech, brain and many others.
Most of these symptoms are familiar to Jeremy Haney, a local MS fighter.
“I was going numb on my left side,” he said. “I couldn’t feel heat or cold. I actually had a limp on my left side. And I was also having trouble making a fist and I would drop plates and things.”
To people living with MS, leaves the daily question of whether something will happen tomorrow, next week, or in a month.
“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about MS,” he said. “At least when I take the shot (Copaxone daily injection, MS treatment), I think to myself ‘Is anything going to happen soon?’. I worry when we go on vacations that i will have an attack out of town. stuff like that.”
While some cope with MS, other’s deal with loved ones and their struggle.
“My dad and I made the decision to take care of her full time at home,” Megan Boudi Sutton, Olathe resident said talking about her mother, Gayle Susan Boudi, who once lived with the struggle of MS. “…meaning we converted her room to basically a hospital room with bed, etc.” said
Sutton’s love for her mother continued to grow stronger through the progression of the disease.
“Plus the love we all had for our Mom was so intense that I could never have put her in a nursing home,” Sutton said. “This came up with my Mom’s neurologist when she became a quadriplegic (lost all movement in arms and legs).”
Though the treatment in the late 1900s given for MS were not as effective, by only masking the pain temporarily. While, the treatment now is ‘supposed’ to reduce the frequency of symptoms occurring, and when they do it is also ‘supposed’ to reduce the duration and severity of the upcoming MS attack.
Unfortunately, Gayle Boudi lost her battle with MS complications on December 15, 1999.
“My hope and dream is that before I die no other families will have to go through what my family and so many other families have to go through on a daily basis,” Sutton said.
While MS has taken over and complicated many families lives, Walk MS hopes to end some troubles by providing financial help for wheelchairs, walkers, or home health services people fighting may need.
“I sooo wish my Mom would have been able to utilize the great MS drugs that they now offer on the market,” Sutton said. “They are so much better than what my mom was exposed to. But, this is the fundamental reason why we have to continue the fight to promote MS walks, activities, charities, etc to provide funding and awareness for all they need.”
The goal amount of money raised for the event is $200,000, but currently stand with $48,379.
“The meds just keep getting better and better!! We always need more MONEY, MONEY, MONEY”Sutton said.
By visiting www.walk4MS.org , more information is provided for the 18 communities where the MS walks are held, the donation address, and what you can do to help the cause.