T Minus 30 Days (’til the MS Walk)

I’m walking. Again. I’m walking because I can.

The local annual MS Walk this year will be held on Sunday, April 15, 2012, at the Reston Town Center in Reston, VA.

This year I have joined the “For Uncle Brian” team of walkers.   The Brian of “Uncle Brian” is a member of our local MS Support Group.

If you’re so inclined, you can make a secure online donation to the “For Uncle Brian” team that I’ll be walking with.  All money donated will go to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

WHEN YOU GIVE, YOU’RE SUPPORTING PROGRAMS, SERVICES & CUTTING EDGE RESEARCH. WHAT YOU GIVE WILL CHANGE MILLIONS OF LIVES.

To see pictures of last year’s walk in Reston, click here.

Thank you in advance for your kind generosity.

Putting Some Oxygen Back in the Debate

Well, next month it happens:  The MS Walk in Reston, VA on April 10, 2011.  I noted before why I signed up for the walk this year. It’s personal this time. All 3.7 miles of it.

Since I registered, I haven’t heard much about the MS Walk (or “Walk MS,” as the National Multiple Sclerosis Society terms it) on local radio and TV outlets.  What I do hear, however, are ads — ad nauseum, it seems — for the Susan G. Komen 3-day walk.  It seems like that cause is sucking all of the oxygen out of the fund-raising arena.

It’s not that I have anything against the breast cancer cause or the pink-clad marchers. It’s just that they are everywhere: everywhere you turn, every station you listen to, every billboard, everything!  It’s a very well funded organization, and it does a great deal of good.  The case can be made that more women (and men) will be touched by breast cancer than multiple sclerosis [MS]; but that doesn’t mean we — or at least I —  shouldn’t pay attention to the latter disease.

Sure, there have been treatments for the symptoms of MS (spacticity, fatigue) for quite some time.  And in 1994 I was fortunate to begin taking a disease-modifying drug that has likely altered the progression of this disease for me. So far. But there is still no cure.

So I’m walking. Not with a pink ribbon, but with the hope that I don’t trip and fall on the course.  And with the hope that soon we may find a cure.

I told myself that I wouldn’t spam my Twitter Followers and Facebook Friends with pleas to sponsor my walk with a financial contribution so that I can make my fundraising goal.

Yes, I am short of my goal.  And this is a call for help. But I promise you, I will not send many of these pleas.  At least not until much, much later and only if I am way, way below my goal. (Oh yes; and maybe during MS Awareness Week. 😉 )

So, you see, you can keep my “dunning notices” to a minimum by contributing now.  And the way to do that is to visit my MS Walk Page & clicking “Contribute to Michele” — it’s tax deductible! — at the top of the thermometer.

Help make this a world free of MS.

(You can also register to walk and join me at Reston Town Center.)