Walk MS
This time of year is pretty special to the Posner family.
It's the time of year when we prepare to do
Many know that my mom has had Multiple Sclerosis for about 17 years now.
Many also know that my sister, Sam was also diagnosed last year with the disease.
(Interesting that my mom was pregnant with Sam when she started having symptoms….)
Not many people know that my mom's sister, sister-in-law, cousin, and my Grandma's cousin (on Dad's side) also have suffered with MS.
It's a disease, we feel, has done enough damage to us and we'd like to do whatever we can to make it go away.
While we're so grateful, Sam is currently symptom free, my mom is not.
She's actually, getting worse.
Her MS has moved into a progressive stage and her symptoms are increasing.
She currently has tingling numbness on the entire left side of her body, PAINFUL tingling numbness on the right side of her body with hot and cold flashes on the right side as well.
She's remaining in good spirits. Tough as ever!
She's been going to acupuncture which seems to be helping a little bit.
We always knew this would happen eventually, it's still really hard when it does.
Below is a letter she wrote to our family and friends:
Dear Friends and Family,
Once again our family is preparing for the Annual Walk for Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Every hour another person is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. If you think of your friends and family you probably know at least one person that has this disease. Just receiving this letter means you know at least one, me. My daughter, my sister, my sister-in-law and cousin all currently have this disease.
I was formally diagnosed with MS 17 years ago. I had some "pins and needles" tingling numbness on the left side of my body while I was pregnant with my daughter, Samantha almost 2 years before that. I've had the tingling numbness ever since and the ability to feel has never returned. This past year has been a very tough year with many new symptoms that I've been fighting since September. I have been having "pins and needles" tingling now on my right side as well and have had pain along with hot and cold flashes on my right side all the time. Steroid treatments no longer ease my symptoms, nor does medicine.
My 18 year old daughter, Samantha, also has MS. She was diagnosed about 2 years ago with tingling in her hands. Thankfully, she is currently symptom free, but must continue with medication.
Our family is getting ready for our 4th year walking. We walk to find a cure. We walk so that Samantha and I may one day be able to have a life symptom free. We continue to hope and pray for a cure. I am lucky that I am still mobile and that I can care for my family, but we MUST find a cure soon! I am now in a new phase with MS. My symptoms are not going away and are progressing.
Please help us with our cause. We would love you to walk with us! Join our team! We are the MS Fits. We are walking Saturday April 10th in Antelope Valley and Sunday April 18th in Pasadena. Bring your families! It's a fun day!
We also have some fundraisers set up:
February 4th at Menchies Frozen Yogurt in Santa Clarita
February 13th at Wana Iguana in Valencia
March 18th at Menchies Frozen Yogurt in Santa Clarita
15% of your purchases will go to our team for Walk MS 2010!!!
For more information go to these websites:
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MSFitsPosners
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MSFits_Posners
Any little bit will help!
Thank You!!
Karla Posner
This week is our last scheduled fundraiser:
We hope to see you there!
We really want to get a lot of people involved this year especially because it's been so hard for my mom lately. We really want to show her how loved she is and how much we support her!
If you need more information on MS or our Walk MS Team, visit the following sites:
http://www.nationalmssociety.org
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MSFitsPosners
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MSFits_Posners
And watch the following video:
Please don't feel pressured to join our team or donate money (either or both would be greatly appreciated though!).
If you would like to help us fundraise, you can do so by joining our team, it does not mean you have to walk.
Or if you want to walk, it does not mean you have to raise money.
Any support is wonderful and appreciated more than you will ever know.
I know we are not out of the woods. I know it's going to get harder. All we can do is hope and pray something comes soon to ease the pain of all the people affected by this disease.
Love,
Jess
