SALISBURY — The J.F. Hurley Family YMCA will host the eighth annual Walk MS: Salisbury beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday.
The event is a community fundraising walk benefiting the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Sue Turner, 61, of Salisbury, will walk this weekend because she lives with multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable neurological disease for which there is no cure.
“I walk to raise money for a cure, because a cure would keep someone else from having to give up all their dreams like I did when I found out that I had MS,” Turner said in a press release. “I’m going to keep on walking as long as I can.”
To participate in Walk MS: Salisbury as a walker or volunteer, register online at www.CarolinasWalkMS.org or call 1-800-FIGHT-MS. Registration will also be available the morning of the event beginning at 9 a.m.
Walk MS events, held in 14 cities across the region this spring, are the rallying point for families affected by multiple sclerosis, which occurs when the body mistakenly attacks the protective covering on nerves, called myelin. This disrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and the body, causing symptoms ranging from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis.
Symptoms vary from person to person and from day to day.
There is currently no cure for MS, but research funded by the National MS Society has assisted in breakthrough treatment advances, including the first oral medication to replace daily needle injections, approved by the FDA last year.
In addition to research, the National MS Society funds local programs and services to help people affected by multiple sclerosis, including financial assistance, education events, couples and family retreats, college scholarships, advocacy and more.
For more information about the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National MS Society, visit www.nationalMSsociety. org/mac.