The week of March 3-9, 2014, was MS Awareness Week during MS Awareness Month. The theme for this year's Awareness Month is "MS Counts."
According to an article by Jeri Burtchell on Healthline.com, the year 1945 was a significant one for those with multiple sclerosis. Sylvia Lawry had multiple sclerosis.
Lawry took out a New York Times ad that said, "Multiple Sclerosis: Will anyone recovered from it please communicate with patient."
Apparently she had a good response to her ad. In March 1946, Lawry founded an organization which would become the National MS Society.
The Society's president and CEO Cynthia Zagieboylo told Healthline, “March has become the cross-organizational month to bring awareness to MS-related issues.”
The Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) and the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation (MSIF) have joined forces with the National MS Society among other groups to bring attention to MS around the world.
The ultimate goal for these organizations is to vanquish MS.
More than 1,000 people with MS have told their personal stories, with their photos, on the National MS Society's website www.MSconnection.org/
Multiple sclerosis attacks the central nervous system. The myelin sheath (the nerves' protective covering) is damaged. Communication between brain and nerve pathways is decreased. Visual difficulties, exhaustion, balance and coordination problems, and reduced mobility often result.
In the 20 years since the first MS therapy was introduced, 10 more approved treatments have appeared that keep MS from progressing and that can make attacks less frequent. Research into genetic and immune response, as well as study for the development of medications for nerve regeneration are ongoing.
It's the number one neurological disorder for young adults. The number of people with MS is in the hundreds of thousands in the United States, and it is 2.5 million around the world.
The national nonprofit organization Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) encourages people to do their bit in raising community awareness of MS in order to improve the lot of those with MS.
The MSAA invites you to go to their website www.mymsaa.org for information, tools and resources that can be accessed by your computer, cell phone or tablet.
Raise your own personal awareness through their award-winning magazine, The Motivator, and by checking out the annual MS Research Update. The MSAA holds education events. You can learn more from their Calendar of Events.
If you or someone you love has MS, you can participate in the North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis. NARCOMS is a global registry for education, research and treatment. To learn more call 1-800-253-7884 or go to http://narcoms.org/
"MS Awareness: Make it Count" is a contest for awareness activity. You can take part if you have a camera, if you and your group are wearing the color orange, and if you make a sign saying "Support the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation -- Because MS Counts!"
The group with the greatest number of people dressing in orange can win a tablet. Other prizes are also available.
Email [email protected] or call 800-225-6495 to find out more or to receive a MS Awareness Kit.
There are more MS organizations than this article can do justice, and each of them has big plans for MS Awareness Month. Sylvia Lawry would be proud to see the progress that has been made in the 59 years since she took out her ad in the New York Times.
Sources:
MS Awareness Month Brings Advocates Together. Healthline.com. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
http://www.healthline.com/health-news/ms-awareness-month-brings-advocate...
March is MS Awareness Month. MYMSAA.org. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
http://www.mymsaa.org/news-msaa/1056-march-awareness
Get Involved: MS Counts. MSFocus.org. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
http://www.msfocus.org/get-involved.aspx
Visit Jody's website at http://www.ncubator.ca