National M.S. Awareness Week’s impact in the U.P.
MARQUETTE — Over two million people are affected by Multiple Sclerosis worldwide and often times, symptoms can be invisible. This week is National M.S. Awareness Week. In wake of this time of year, ABC 10’s Melanie Palmer has the story on how people are impacted by this illness and what you can do to raise awareness.
The week of March 6th was the start of National M.S. Awareness week. So what exactly is M.S.?
“Multiple Sclerosis is a neuro-muscular disorder and it affects the body in terms of people getting numbness, tingling, they may have loss of vision or severe pain in one of their eyes. They might also have a loss of balance or difficulty walking,” said UP-Health System Marquette PA-C, Bonnie Kilpela.
There is no cure for M.S. and the cause is unknown. In honor of this week, I caught up with an Ishpeming resident who we did a story on in the past. Linda Gransinger received HSCT, which is a stem cell therapy for M.S. patients back in July. Since having this treatment, she has noticed she’s had much more energy and losing some spasticity.
“I’m so excited because I went for my six month follow-up in January and I’m very happy to say that my MRI’s came back and I have no new lesions and the existing lesions are not active,” said Ishpeming resident living life after HSCT, Linda Gransinger.
M.S. is typically diagnosed in patients between the ages of 20 and 50, children can also be diagnosed with this illness. Today, members of ABC 10 are showing our support by wearing M.S. awareness’s official color, orange. So what part can you play to raise awareness for people living with this illness?
“Wear orange to show your support during M.S. awareness week and also use “#WeAreStrongThanMS” on your social media platforms. Please visit our website, NationalM.S.Society.org for additional resources and ways that you can get involved, not just during M.S. awareness week but really year round,” said National M.S. Society Michigan Chapter Social Media Specialist, Cheryl Rothe.
Although symptoms of M.S. can at times be unseen, individuals living with M.S. can still be experiencing them. To anyone living with Multiple Sclerosis, Linda urges you to research all treatment options.
“There are things out there other than the standard disease modifying drug. I would strongly recommend that anyone living with M.S. that you do check HSCT. Doctor Richard Burt in Chicago has been performing it for over 20 years and it has approximately a 92% success rate,” said Gransinger.
The National M.S. Society is getting ready for their annual fundraisers coming up this fall.