Once again my wife Nahleen and I are very excited to be participating in WalkMS, Sunday, April 18, at the Pasadena Rose Bowl. Thank you so much for the generosity and kind thoughts last year.
With health care now a hot button and the economy still struggling (to put it mildly), it makes giving harder than ever, yet more important than ever. Thanks to the money and awareness we’ve raised, the National MS Society has done great work to move research forward. We are closer than ever to having an oral medication available that could potentially replace the frequent self-injections currently used for treatment. I think most people would much rather take a pill than stab themselves with a needle every other day. Nahleen and many others with MS have been holding out for that for a long time, and we’re really close to that kind of treatment hitting market.
Beyond that, there are lots of other treatments at risk of being scaled back or eliminated entirely either at the National MS Society or in the medical field. Truly, every bit counts.
So to make this a little more interesting and maybe entertaining for you, I’ve decided to do something different for this year’s WalkMS. Last October, I read a story about an 84-year-old woman named Lan Yin “Eiko” Tsai who rides her old one-speed bike 150 miles for the New Jersey City to Shore event to raise money for MS. She’s been doing this for 26 years – always in a dress and heels. The article has this great picture of her in a green turtleneck dress and embroidered jacket. She is pretty inspiring. Then I started to think about the daily discomfort and struggles that people with MS go through every day. I see it in Nahleen every day. Her courage and discipline are also inspiring. So I thought maybe I could make my 3-mile walk this April in Pasadena for WalkMS more reflective of that daily discomfort while at the same time paying tribute to Eiko and Nahleen. And at the same time, looking like a dork. I know I’m good at doing that
So I’m doing WalkMS in a dress and heels.
I hope this silliness will inspire you to give and/or spread the word to others and/or join our team. Click on that link to go to my personal page at the National MS Society to get involved. I also welcome any donations in the form of costuming or other ideas to pull this off.
Thank you for reading!
