This article was published on News-n-Views
This weekend on Saturday, April 10, UCI campus will be hosting a walk benefiting those affected by Multiple Sclerosis. It is a chance for the Orange County community to come together, raise funds, and celebrate hope for the future!
Join the members and families of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Pacific South Coast Chapter, for this joyous festival-like event featuring food, drink, entertainment, and of course an energizing 2 to 3 mile walk. This year’s goal is to raise $2 million towards the organization and its contribution to the MS community.
Multiple Sclerosis interrupts the flow of information between the brain and the body and ultimately prevents people from making basic physical movements. Symptoms may vary from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. Statistics estimate that every hour in the U.S. someone is newly diagnosed with MS. It is an unpredictable, and often disabling disease of the central nervous system. Most people who are diagnosed with MS are between the ages of 20 and 50, with more than twice as many women than men developing the disease.
The National MS Society is a community of passionate people who are driven to move together toward a future free of multiple sclerosis. The organization helps each person address the challenges of living with the disease through over 50-state network chapters. The Society helps those affective by funding cutting-edge research, driving change through advocacy, facilitating professional education, and providing programs to uplift victims and their families to move forward.
On the so-cal local level, the Pacific South Coast Chapter provides programs and services designed to help the 18,000 people affected by MS in Orange County and the neighboring San Diego and Imperial counties. Nearly $4 million is spent on Multiple Sclerosis research in the area annually and over seventy-five percent of the funds the chapter raises come from special events like the Walk MS.
The Walk begins at 8:30 a.m. and registration will be open an hour prior to the starting signal. Festivities will run from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at UCI and all friends and families of the community are welcome. The event is expected to gather over 3,000 walkers and supporters. Participants can start a walking team, join a team, walk as an individual, donate to a walker’s fundraising efforts and even volunteer for the event.
