The NMSS stated that 80% of people who have MS experience problems with walking within 10 to 15 years of the onset of disease.
It took me less than five years to lose my ability to walk. No more walking. Period.
But that doesn’t mean I gave up. If anything, it fueled my fire to keep moving forward as best as I can.
This is why I continue to lead my Walk MS team – Team MonsterS – in the annual NMSS Walk MS in Frankenmuth, Michigan. A group of selfless friends and family members venture anywhere from a few minutes to many hours just to be there to support me and Dan and the nearly 1 million other Americans living with MS.
This is empowering, encouraging, overwhelming and humbling all at the same time.
For the 25th consecutive year, Team MonsterS proudly joined hundreds of other Walk MS participants who shared the common vision to end MS forever.
And even though I no longer can walk, I feel like I took some big strides to help get us all that much closer to achieving this goal.
Enjoy some of my favorite images from this year’s Walk MS in Frankenmuth May 13!
Team MonsterS 2023. A total of 32 MonsterS and three dogs took to the streets of Frankenmuth to raise MS awareness and funds for MS research and programs.Traditional “carb loading.” As we always do the night before the walk, we get together with Dan’s sister, Dawn (in white next to me), and my caregiver Jen in the Bavarian Inn hotel’s arcade for pizza and drinks.Team tent. We show up at the walk before all the MonsterS arrive to decorate the team tent, complete with a custom sign created by our niece Elizabeth.Walking and rolling. I find my place among the hundreds of Walk MS participants at the start of the event. Friends for the ages. Dan and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to get a photo with Sue and Jesse. Sue was a member of my first-ever MS support group long before Dan and I met.Legendary Monster. “PT Heather,” standing behind Dan, was my first physical therapist after I was diagnosed with MS 25 years ago and she has been walking with me and Team MonsterS from Day 1. Her daughter, Abbie, and father, Dennis, joined us again this year. ICYMI: Dan and I featured Heather in our recent podcast episode Taking on PT & exercise with Heather Schoen.Future Doctors of Physical Therapy. How blessed are Dan and I to not only be connected to the activities and the students enrolled in the Central Michigan University DPT program, but eight of the students also joined us for the walk this year? Yeah. So blessed.Forever friends … and MonsterS. My childhood and lifelong bestie Nora, along with her husband, John, have always been there to support me and Dan.Forever grateful. From the day Dan and Adam became colleagues at Central Michigan University some 12 years ago, Adam and his wife, Erica, have been leading members of Team MonsterS. So, it’s no surprise their 8-year-old son, Maximus, has followed their lead and has become one of the top fundraisers for Walk MS Frankenmuth. Learn more about Maximus and his fundraising efforts in this video Raising Awareness with Maximus – Multiple Sclerosis.Parting shot. Because it wouldn’t be Walk MS without Dan’s sister, Dawn, and her husband, Mike, and their daughter, Elizabeth. They always drive out from Iowa just to be with us and our walk team. Have we said how blessed we are?
Continued coverage
A Couple Takes on MS Podcast. The events of the day didn’t end with Walk MS. Check out our episodeTaking on MS and mourning sicknessto hear our frank and candid discussion about how even the happiest of times can blindside us to simultaneously spiral through several – if not all seven – stages of grief in a matter of minutes.
