Estevan walkers will be among about 1,400 other provincial participants raising funds to combat multiple sclerosis on May 29.
The MS Walk is a family oriented, community-supported event that raises money in support of the fight to end MS. Participants can choose varying route lengths including a wheelchair accessible route.
This year’s walk in Estevan will begin and end at Pleasantdale School on Dieppe Crescent with the walkers checking in shortly after noon and the walk will start at 1 p.m.
Estevan is one of 11 communities in Saskatchewan that is officially engaged in the Blue Cross MS Walk.
MS, a disease of the central nervous system , interferes with the brain’s signals to the rest of the body. It is an unpredictable affliction that causes different symptoms in different people with these symptoms sometimes being numbness, vision problems, impaired speech, loss of balance and co-ordination or extreme fatigue in some and loss of mobility or paralysis in others. Research so far has led to several treatments that can modifty the progression of some types of MS. As yet, the exact cause of this disease is unknown but researchers are looking into genetic and environmental factors among other things.
Canada has the highest rate of MS in the world and it generally strikes people between the ages of 15 and 40.
The MS Society provides services to MS sufferers and their families as well as funding research to find the cause and cure.
