Thank You Team Mitsubishi/Nationwide Traffic

On behalf of all those that live with Multiple Sclerosis, I want to thank each of you for your involvement and dedication to the cause.

We will beat this disease! No longer will careers be shortened by MS. No longer will care-givers struggle to fill the needs of both themselves and the person for whom they care. No longer will people have to think about their every move. No longer will there be a need to gain awareness of MS and no longer will there be a need to simply try to make people understand.

And maybe we’ll know why MS exists, what triggers it and why it’s progression can’t be predicted. Maybe we’ll know that there is (or for that matter isn’t) a genetic component. Or, why more women than men are stricken by MS. Why it is more prevalent the farther you go from the equator. We might even know why in some people it effects their balance, some their stamina, some their basic motor skills, some all of the above, and why some seem to lead (normal) productive lives interrupted only by occasional exacerbations that come and go leaving no long term evidence of MS’s flare-up.

MS is a giant question mark. It would be one thing to say there are more questions than answers. With MS there are really only questions, and the questions never stop coming and very few have answers.

So… What you’ve done is significantly help fund the cause. The cause of:
· Research
· Awareness of Multiple Sclerosis
· Advocacy for MS patients, be it Independent Living, Health Care, Medical Insurance, or the Rights of the Disabled.
· Peer self-help. Persons with chronic conditions helping others in the same situation.
· Helping those with MS navigate the Government’s bureaucracy to get Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Insurance approval.
· Care-giver support.
· Providing a place that people with MS can go to find someone that cares and understands, someone that they can relate to and that doesn’t judge them.

I hope to see each of you out there again next year! If you’ll have me I’d be privileged to be the team’s connection to Multiple Sclerosis, unless of course they find a cure! If that happens I promise to ride with you!

Finally, were it not for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (funded by events like Bike MS) I’d be very unfulfilled. But, the MS Society gives me the opportunity to reach out to others with MS, advocate for our needs and rights while relating to my fellow MSers and educating the public.

I Sincerely Want To Thank You
Until next year,