Active, athletic and just 25, Meredith Falconer will participate in her first Multiple Sclerosis fundraising walk this Saturday morning at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center as someone recently diagnosed with the disease.
Numbness on her face last year around the Fourth of July, followed by numbness on her abdomen and eye problems led to doctors, tests and ultimately a diagnosis last November. Before her diagnosis, she knew little about the chronic central nervous system disease, which affects 400,000 people nationwide, the majority of them women. Symptoms can range from localized numbness to paralysis or loss of vision.
The process of eliminating other diseases or conditions took time but the optimistic
Falconer feels fortunate overall. Most people with MS are diagnosed in the 25-40 age range, she noted, so Falconer is glad that her case was caught early so treatment could begin.
"Sometimes people struggle for years with a diagnosis so actually I think I was pretty lucky," said the 1998 Traverse City Central High School grad. "I was having symptoms about a year ago when I started noticing it more. I also think I'm pretty lucky as far as being diagnosed at a time when people take it more seriously, there's more known and more treatments."
With a goal of helping people like Falconer and the estimated 16,000 other people with MS in the state, the 2006 Traverse City MS Walk will be held on Saturday morning at the Civic Center. Registration begins at 8 and the three- or six-mile walk will start at 9; the event also includes breakfast and lunch for participants.
Traverse City is one of 15 cities around the state holding the walks over the past two months to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The goal this year is to raise $1.35 million with these events. Last year, the Traverse City walk, the last in the series around the state, drew 350 walkers and raised approximately $80,000. Organizers hope to exceed that figure in 2006.
"Every year it's increased," said Cory VanBrocklin, head of the committee organizing the local effort.
VanBrocklin's wife, Anne, was diagnosed with the disease in 2003 after experiencing numbness on her face. An active young mother of two, she began treatment for symptoms right away and has progressed well since then except for fatigue.
"It definitely isn't singling out one group of people, it hits everybody and hits everybody differently," noted VanBrocklin of MS. "It's a scary thing, there are varying degrees of people with wheelchairs or crutches or walking sticks. It can affect memory or fatigue or just getting up in the morning."
Falconer, who participated in a bike race fundraiser for Multiple Sclerosis last weekend in Grand Rapids, copes with uncertainty by educating herself and remaining active. While not active in support groups at this time, she helped organize this year's MS walk.
"Each disease takes it's own course in each individual," said Falconer, who works in wholesale for Henderson Imports.
"There's not really something like, 'If you have this you're going to end up like this,'" she added. "There's a lot of different symptoms and some people experience one and never have any exacerbations ever again and some people obviously aren't that lucky."
New medicines available within the past five or seven years have greatly improved the lives of many who have Multiple Sclerosis. The treatment can shorten the duration of a flare up and lessen symptoms, VanBrocklin noted.
"Like my wife had original symptoms for a month, now with that medicine, it won't be as painful and not as long of a time," he said. "Medicine makes symptoms more livable."
The 2006 Traverse City MS Walk will accept registrations Saturday morning beginning at 8 a.m. at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center. The three- and six-mile walks will begin at 9 a.m.