Walk for a Cure

MS Walk Coordinator Megan Murphy (left) volunteer Shaye Belanger (centre) and Greg Walker (right) discuss the upcoming Super Cities Walk For MS being planned for North Bay in May at last night's kickoff held at the Capitol Centre.

An intimate and energetic group of people were on hand at the Capitol Centre Sunday evening to officially kick off the annual Super Cities Walk for Multiple Sclerosis slated to go in the Gateway City at the end of next month.

MS Fundraising Event Coordinator, Megan Murphy says the get together is a way to thank the many people who get involved in organizing and running the charitable event. Last year the Walk For MS raised over 10 million dollars nationally. “There are 61 walks across Ontario and over 160 walks across Canada.” said Murphy. This year’s goal for North Bay is $25,000.

Details are still being worked out for the local walk, but it will start and end at Tweedsmuir Public School on Lakeshore Drive and cover some of the Kate Pace Way and the waterfront and will go rain or shine.

MS is one of the most common neurological diseases in the world and Canada has one of the highest rates of MS cases. “Your own body starts to attack its myelin which is the covering around your nerves which interrupt signals from your brain to your body. It can cause anything from dull vision, blurry vision, blindness, fatigue, paralysis, numbness, all of the above and to varying degrees.” Murphy explained.

41 year old Greg Walker says he’s about to celebrate his 20th anniversary of living with what he calls “this damn disease”. He says his surname is an irony in light of the fact that he now gets around on a scooter. MS has forced him to leave the workforce, putting not only a huge financial burden on those close to him but an emotional one too.

“I know that MS can destroy a family over time. And I’m lucky to have the dedicated and loving individuals around me that I have. Not just my immediate family but friends and the people that surround me that make days a little easier to handle.”

Despite his condition, he’s confident that research funded by the walks will come up with a cure one day.

“I’m never shy about trying the newest thing that comes along. The one thing that we always have is hope, you know, we have to hope and we’re close. We’re very close to a cure. New treatments are coming along all the time. That’s what we have to go with… hope at this point.”

North Bay’s Super Cities Walk for Multiple Sclerosis goes Sunday May 28th, 2006.

MS Society