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Published in The Spectator, the student newspaper of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire;
Thursday, April 19, 2001
Walk to raise money for multiple sclerosis
By Bill Olson
More than 400 people are expected to walk
through the streets of Eau Claire Sunday to raise money for people
living with multiple sclerosis.
The MS Walk starts at 10 a.m. and will begin and end at Lakeshore
Elementary School, 711 Lake Drive, at the edge of Carson Park on Sunday.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s own
defenses attack the insulating material around nerves, according to the
NMSS Web site at www.nmss.org. Symptoms can range from numbness in the
limbs to paralysis and blindness.
Kari Ann Nelson, who graduated from UW-Eau Claire in 1998, began
experiencing symptoms of MS when she was 19.
“I got a really, really bad headache one night, and the next day when
I woke up, half my face was numb,” Nelson said. “It stayed numb for
a full month.”
Nelson said she went to a neurologist who ran a Magnetic Resonance
Imaging of her brain, but could not find the cause of her condition.
“They thought I had a minor stroke, so they didn’t diagnose it as
MS,” she said.
As her college career continued, her symptoms were complicated by test
anxiety.
“Whenever I’d take exams, I’d always get sick,” Nelson said.
One time during finals she felt very shaky and did not have good balance
because her equilibrium was off and her vision was bad, she said.
Nelson went to Health Services and was diagnosed with an inner ear
infection.
When she graduated, her stress increased dramatically because of final
exams and the need to find a job and a place to live.
“I had another attack in which my arms felt really weak and my vision
was going bad,” she said.
But Nelson said she was in denial, blaming her bad vision on a need for
new contact lenses and her shakiness on not drinking enough caffeine.
“But then I didn’t make it to the bathroom on time one day,”
Nelson said. “I was 23 years old and I thought, OK, something’s not
right here; I just wet my pants.”
She just blew it off, Nelson said, but when it happened the next day she
went to the doctor.
“It really scared me, and it was embarrassing,” Nelson said.
The doctor told her she had multiple sclerosis, which was pretty
shocking, she said.
A new MRI found seven lesions on her brain. Today she has 17 lesions.
But despite fatigue and occasional relapses, Nelson said she works full
time and recently bought her own house.
According to Peterson, more than 180 families in Eau Claire, Chippewa
and Dunn counties have members with MS.
“The walk will help raise public awareness about the disease,”
Peterson said.
Nelson said this is the second year the MS Walk is being held in Eau
Claire.
“Last year we raised over $40,000,” said Nelson, adding that the
money goes toward research and the National MS Society. “It’s really
a fun day.”
There will be a 7.5-mile loop and a 3.1-mile loop with rest stops, fruit
and water available every 2 to 3 miles at both, said Kathy Peterson, a
volunteer with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
The fundraiser, sponsored by NMSS, also will provide a complementary
lunch for each participant after the walk is finished, she said.
Volunteers are needed to register walkers, handle money, work at
information booths, do first aid, help with food and at the rest stops,
Nelson said.
To join the walk or volunteer, call 1-800-242-3358.
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