Sponsor me as I ride in my 10th MS 150 Bike tour. This year I will ride in Las Vegas with Zoe in November. This will be my 7th new route and the third state I've participated in. I'm excited to ride new terrian with some new people.

When my mother was in her early 20's, she put herself through nursing school, on top of being a mother and a wife. When she graduated, she worked 12-hour graveyard shifts at the VA Hospital, which was an extremely long commute from home. Her perseverance paid out, and she eventually moved up into the cardiac unit of a better hospital, and then on to home health and hospice. She put everything she had into her work; being able to help people gave her a great sense of purpose and meaning. The community noticed, and her patients loved her for this. When she was diagnosed with MS in her early 30's, it kept her from helping people the way she was used to. She could never be a full-time nurse again, even though this was her life; her patients were her passion. For years she struggled with vision, with digestion and appetite, with balance and walking, and with numbness and tingling. Symptoms would come and go.

After about 10 years, she progressed into secondary progressive MS, just like most people with a relapsing-remitting diagnosis. She no longer experiences lapses of basic health that she so deserves. Every day she struggles with fatigue, with decision-making and attention, with discomfort and a stomach that sometimes decides it just doesn't want to digest. She uses a cane to help her walk. Worst of all, she has to live knowing that no amount of her strength of intention will help her get well enough to work again. Barely in her 50's, she needs help to get along, and will continue to need more and more help as the illness advances. She is one of the few people with MS lucky enough to afford medication (with generous assistance from advocacy groups), which she takes, even though there is no evidence of anything slowing or helping the type of MS she has.

It takes so much stamina and deliberation for my mother to simply wake up and get dressed in the morning, that I wish the rest of her life were filled with nothing but joy and ease. I do what I can to help her be independent and lead the life she desires. I assist with finances, planning, and keeping her home. People all over generously and lovingly help my mother out, whether it's the neighbor who sweeps out her carport, the friend who will cook her dinner, or the family member who joins her at the grocery store. We do everything we can, but when it comes to her comfort, her prognosis, and the efficacy of her medication, we are helpless. I ride because it is the only thing I can do for the worst of what my mom, her friends, and people everywhere like her, deal with every day.

SOME HISTORY

I began participating in MS Walks with my mother in 1994. Since then, I have participated in about 8 MS walks and 9 MS 150 bike rides. I've had the pleasure of seeing 10 different routes and raising money in 2 different states. Over the years I've recruited over 30 different friends, and incorporated different non-profit organizations. Together, with the people I've participated with, we have raised over $10,000 for the MS Society. The breadth of these efforts expand beyond helping the MS Society and people diagnosed with MS. By sharing what I know and have experienced, I have gained a closeness with my peers I wouldn't have otherwise. I learned about the gamut of other diseases that plague our loved ones, and ultimately added to the knowledge I can share. I am asking for donations for these rides because I have great compassion for people afflicted with the disease, but I also have great respect for how the MS Society allocates it's funds. When my mother was newly diagnosed, it was the MS Society that provided our family with book and videos about what the disease really was and what to do about it. Because of the MS Society, my mother has a support group of friends who help each other live and learn and grow with the disease. Years ago she started swimming with a MS Society-sponsored class, and now she swims miles every week, even though walking .1 mile takes hours of effort. That is a very cool thing. I am proud of what my mom can do, and so thankful for all the ways this charity has helped her and me!

PERSONAL BENEFITS

Riding 150 miles for MS spurred participation in the cycling tour community. Even though many of these other rides have been longer or more challenging than the MS 150, they are all ridden with the intention of training for the MS 150, which to this day stands as my favorite ride. Since then, I've participated in a number of cycle tours, including the following: Elephant Rock (Castle Rock, Colorado) 2004, The Strawberry Century (Lebennon, Oregon) 2005, Tour de Blast (Toutle, Washington) 2005, The Monster Cookie (Salem, Oregon) 2006, Strawberry Century 2006, The Firecracker 100 (Bend, Oregon) 2006, Seattle to Portland 2005, Elephant Rock 2007, the Tour de Blast 2008, The Portland Century 2008, and the Harvest Century 2008. It's funny to look back and think that I was inspired to ride in these other events as training for the MS 150 because each and every tour has become a special memory. I hope to expand my tour experience to other states, and eventually ride my bike in other countries.

If you like, you may go to the MS 150 Web Site and sponsor me by searching for my name and making a donation. Or you can just follow this the link here. Mailing checks is also an option. Just email me for an address. That's all is takes. It helps motivate me, it helps people living with MS, and all you give is 100% tax-deductable!

ANSWERS ABOUT MS

From the MS Society

Multiple sclerosis (or MS) is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system (CNS), which is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS are unpredictable and vary from one person to another.

MS can cause blurred vision, loss of balance, poor coordination, slurred speech, tremors, numbness, extreme fatigue, problems with memory and concentration, paralysis, and blindness and more. These problems may be permanent or may come and go.

Most people are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, although individuals as young as 2 and as old as 75 have developed it. MS is not considered a fatal disease as the vast majority of people with it live a normal life-span. But they may struggle to live as productively as they desire, often facing increasing limitations.

Anyone may develop MS but there are some patterns. More than twice as many women as men have MS. Studies suggest that genetic factors make certain individuals more susceptible than others, but there is no evidence that MS is directly inherited. It occurs more commonly among people with northern European ancestry. People of African, Asian, and Hispanic backgrounds are also diagnosed with MS, however, the incidence is much lower.

Approximately 400,000 Americans have MS, and every week about 200 people are diagnosed. World-wide, MS affects about 2.5 million people. Because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not require U.S. physicians to report new cases, and because symptoms can be completely invisible, the numbers can only be estimated.