ORGANIZERS PREPARING FOR WALK FOR MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Chad and Mary Meyer go over plans for the walk in their home.

Mary Meyer is once again preparing to put on a walk for multiple sclerosis in Jackson for Sunday, April 13.

This will be the eighth year for the walk that is made possible by donations.

She has a few helpers in her son Chad Meyer, Dan Wessel and Brenda and Tim Bender.

Meyer and her son remember when they conceived the idea for the walk, it was while traveling home from a walk in St. Louis.

In 1989, the Meyers went to St. Louis and walked all day and brought with them $700 worth of pledges.

On the ride home they decided that a walk in the Cape and Jackson area would raise more money for MS research than would just going to the St. Louis walk.

Meyer was contacted by the MS chapter in St. Louis and they had the same idea and were planning on branching off to have community walks.

Meyer's son got involved because his mom has MS "and we're too lazy to drive to St. Louis, so we brought it down here," he said, joking.

"He's always been my best friend," Meyer said of her son.

So each year in November the Meyers begin planning the MS Walk.

They have to get food donated for the walkers. The signs are donated.

"Everything has to be donated," Meyer said.

"It says a lot about the businesses around here that we are able to put this on year after year," Meyer said.

Meyer said that each year the Jackson police have to okay the route she has planned for the walk and they ask the City Council for a shelter in the Jackson City Park for free.

Meyer also has to get her publicity free. This year the walk will be broadcast on KGMO radio.

While Meyer is busy with all of this, Wessel and the Benders help distribute 6,000 brochures.

The walk in Jackson is three miles with a break in the middle at Jackson Frozen Food Lockers. Meyer said the walkers are given food and drinks there.

The walkers are given a full meal when the walk is completed at the city park.

The walk makes money for multiple sclerosis by having pledges for every mile walked or block pledges.

A walker that raises $75 or more will receive a T-shirt.

This year Meyer is hoping for 500 walkers. She has 200 pre-registered already.

The walk raised almost $17,000 last year with 302 walkers and this year Meyer is hoping for $20,000 in pledges.

The pledges are sent to the MS Society in St. Louis.

The proceeds from the walk go toward finding a cure for the disease that is difficult to diagnose and affects the nervous system.

The disease afflicts more women than men and most develop symptoms between the ages of 20-45.

MS causes the gradual destruction of myelin, a white matter of the brain and spinal cord.

Plaques appear in the myelin that disrupt the normal function of the nervous system.

The symptoms vary and they depend on what area of the brain is affected.

About one third of MS victims become handicapped from the disease, but few die from the disease.

The cause of the disease is unknown. A virus that affects the body before the age of 15 may be the cause.

The virus may produce an abnormal reaction within the immune system.

The antibodies that are normally produced in the case of a virus present in the body attack the myelin instead of the virus in MS patients.