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March is National MS Eduction & Awareness Month
Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2008-02-13 07:54.
The month of March is National MS Education & Awareness Month. This national campaign, spearheaded by the MSF in cooperation with the MS Coalition and other organizations, promotes an understanding of the disease and provides education, empowerment, and assistance to those living with it.
Awareness Kits, filled with educational information for patients, family members, healthcare providers, the media, and the community at large, are available by mail within the U.S. These kits are offered free of charge. Order as many kits as you need. Simply send an email to awareness@msfocus.org.
Further information about MS and National MS Education & Awareness Month can be found on the MSF website or by calling 1-888-MSFOCUS (673-6287). See below for our March 2008 teleconference schedule.
MARCH 2008 TELECONFERENCES
THE EMOTIONAL & COGNITIVE IMPACT OF MS
Allison Shadday, L.C.S.W. and Jeffrey Gingold Wednesday, March 19, 2008, 8:00 p.m. EST
SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES FOR SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT Ben Thrower, M.D. and Tracy Walker, R.N.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008, 8:00 p.m. EST
To register for these unbiased and informative teleconferences, please call 800-350-5321. Outside the U.S., please call 706-643-5941. (Partially funded through charitable contributions from EMD Serono, Inc. and the Bayer Foundation.)
Trainer’s Corner by:
Trainer’s Corner
by: Darren Barnes
Training is a challenge. Helping other people reach their goals is even a greater test of your abilities as a fitness trainer. But once in a while you are presented with a challenge, that if you can rise up to meet, it can define your career. For me, David Lyons is that challenge.
David came to me and told me that he wanted me to train him for a bodybuilding contest by his next birthday. He is about to turn 50 years old. His age is a challenge in itself but what I found out about David Lyons really presented an odds defying undertaking for us both. David, at the age of 47, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system and causes “lesions” to be formed in his body. The multiple lesions in David’s spinal cord make it difficult for him to coordinate movements and they affect his balance. The lesions in his brain cause cognitive problems affecting his ability to think, process information and concentrate. And the lesion by his optic nerve, at times, causes vision impairment and blackness when seeing out of his left eye. David also lives in a constant state of fatigue caused by this disease.
People told David that he was crazy to try to take on such a challenge with MS, especially at his age. Although no one dies from MS, this incurable disease is in essence supposed to be a slow death sentence. As the disease progresses most MS patients become more disabled and slip into a state of depression. But when David Lyons steps on stage at Deke Warner’s 2009 Mid-Florida Classic, he will silence the critics: the people who said it couldn’t be done, the doctors who said he was destined for a wheelchair, and most importantly, the life altering disease that tried to hold him back from realizing his dream.
David is an award winning film creator and executive producer who is filming a documentary of his bodybuilding journey and the transformation of his body as he gets into contest shape, with the help of John Morris, a former TV producer and independent filmmaker.
Many people who meet David are impressed by his drive and his determination to succeed at this endeavor. People say that bodybuilding is an individual sport, but when David walks out on that stage, he won’t be walking out there alone. He has assembled an incredible team of people who believe in his dream. I believe that if anyone can overcome these odds and make this dream a reality, David can. As a trainer, my job would be easier if everyone I work with had the same will to succeed as David has. I am proud to be his trainer for this event and plan on helping him on his journey to compete internationally and show the world that MS should not destroy a dream.
March is National Multiple Sclerosis Education and Awareness month.
If you are interested in meeting David and his challenge team, visit our website www.themsbodybuildingchallenge.com. You will be able to learn more about MS, watch David’s progress and find out how you can help by joining myself, the MS Foundation, Max Muscle Orlando and some of the top people in the medical field. Together, we can beat this disease and give hope to the many people that it affects.