The National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society will be holding its annual walk this Sunday to raise money for programs, education and research for those living with MS both locally and nationally.
Check-in starts at 2 p.m. at the Intramural Building, and the walk starts at 3 p.m., said Natasha Booton, campaign manager for the Central Pennsylvania chapter of the MS Society.
The walk, which is about four miles, will begin and end at the IM Building, said Linda Hanson, volunteer coordinator for the walk. From there, it will walk to the Lion Shrine and then back to the IM building.
"We hope people take their time to walk and enjoy the campus," Hanson said.
In the event of rain, the check-in point will be moved inside, but the walk will still go on as planned, she said.
Along the course, there will be rest stops, and at the finish line, there will be celebratory activities planned.
"Normally, there is lunch, but due to State College's late start time, it may be more of an early dinner," Booton said.
In addition to food, Hanson said she has made arrangements to have a clown there.
"We are hoping to have 100 people walk, but so far we have 95 registers signed up. So maybe we will have 150 walkers," Booton said.
Walkers do not need to pre-register and can sign up on the day of the walk. If walkers want to sign up in advance, they can visit the MS Society's Web site at www.nationalmssociety.org, Hanson said. She also said sororities and fraternities have contacted her about putting together a team to walk.
For people who don't want to walk but still want to support the MS Society, Hanson said she is willing to take on more volunteers.
"Anyone who wants to volunteer, I'd be happy to have them. There will be things for people to do, and you can't have enough volunteers," she said.
The MS Society has set a goal to raise $15,000 through the State College walk site, Booton said.
However, similar walks will be held all over the state in April and May. Overall, they hope to raise $1 million among 13 walk sites, she said.
"Throughout the state, the walk is an annual event, but this year, it is returning to the State College area after being gone for a few years," Booton said.
It has probably been gone for about five years, she added. It is being brought back in part due to Hanson's request.
"My fiancé was diagnosed with MS two years ago. You can either sit and cry or do something about it," she said.
She called the MS Society and asked it to bring the walk back to State College and volunteered to organize it.
Hanson's fiancé is just one of thousands who is living with MS.
About 400,000 Americans have been diagnosed with MS, and more than 5,000 individuals are registered with MS in the Central Pennsylvania area, said Debbie Rios, vice president of community development and education for the Central Pennsylvania chapter of the MS Society.
"Roughly 200 people a week are diagnosed with the disease," she added.
MS is a disease that affects the central nervous system, which consists of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves in eyes. However, the disease is unpredictable in the sense that it can vary in severity from person to person and day to day, Rios said.
Richard Tenser, professor of neurology and of microbiology and immunology at Hershey Medical Center, said MS inflicts about one in 1,000 people, and it is somewhat more common in women than men by a ratio of about 5:3.
"MS is more common in northern latitudes, i.e. it is more common in Pennsylvania than in Louisiana," Tenser said. "This has led to speculation about illnesses, dietary factors and climate."
Basically, MS can be classified as a chronic progressive disease, said Steven Jacobson, senior investigator in the Viral Immunology Section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
MS is the most common neurological disease for young adults, and the symptoms are usually experienced by patients aged 15 to 50, said Andrea Borkowski, senior director of communications and marketing for the MS Association of America.
While symptoms for the disease vary from case to case, the most prevalent include things such as fatigue, numbness, dizziness, bladder and bowel dysfunction, cognitive difficulties and depression, Borkowski said.
Although there is no cure for MS, there are long-term treatments that can help patients.
"There are several different Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs that treat MS. These help change the course of the disease," Rios said.
Those drugs that modify the advancement of the disease are Betaseron, Avonex, Rebif, Copaxone and Novantrone, Borkowski said.
There has been an increase in research recently, and there have been a lot of positive changes made, Borkowski said.
"There are a number of exciting therapies that have been conducted. There is lots of work being done in imaging. We are trying to understand this disease," Jacobson said.
