Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
[STK]
[IN] HEA SMD
[SU] NPT
-- WITH PHOTO -- TO HEALTH, AND NATIONAL EDITORS:
Share Why You Connect to the MS Movement During MS Awareness Week
March 3-9 2014
NEW YORK, March 3, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Creating a world
free of multiple sclerosis requires a collaborative effort. That's why
starting today, March 3, individuals and MS groups across the country
unite to raise awareness and find new and better ways to help people
living with MS live their best lives.
This year, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's annual awareness
campaign kicks off the week of March 3 -9 and will provide everyone
who wants to connect to the MS Movement the opportunity to share their
own image and story at www.MSconnection.org. While on the site,
visitors can also connect with thousands of people supporting one
another and exploring issues that matter to people living with MS.
MS is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous
system which interrupts the flow of information within the brain, and
between the brain and body. MS affects more than 2.3 million people
worldwide.
Advancing MS research is one of the National MS Society's highest
priorities. Right now, the Society is devoting nearly $50 million to
support some 380 research projects around the world while providing
programs and services to over a million people annually. It is also
fostering global collaborations and increasing annual investments
yearly to drive solutions that will stop MS progression, restore
function that's been lost, and end MS forever.
In just two decades, MS has moved from being an untreatable disease to
one where there are at least 10 treatment options for those with
relapsing MS, the most common form of the disease. And there are even
more new therapies speeding through the pipeline that offer hope to
people with all forms of this life altering disease.
Connect during MS Awareness Week - March 3-9- And Beyond:
-- The Society's Connection to spearhead MS Research - The Society is
announcing in March a new funding commitment totaling over $29 million
to support 83 new research and training projects worldwide. These
include innovative studies investigating the potential of adult stem
cells for repairing the nervous system; research to determine how
dietary salt and the gut's microbiome may impact MS; funding to train
MS specialists who can provide the best care; and high-risk pilot
projects to test breakthrough ideas.
-- Every Connection Counts - share your story and connect with others
at www.MSconnection.org. Visitors can learn more about MS, upload
their own photo and connection to share with others, download tools to
spread MS awareness, or register to participate in Walk MS or Bike MS
or another conveniently located Society event. Visitors can also
build connections, view and share images, video, and stories about
their connections on the Society's Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/nationalMSsociety. If they tweet, they can
spread the word using the #MSconnection hash tag.
-- Find famous faces on MSconnection.org - There area multitude of
famous faces who are celebrity MS ambassadors. Learn why they connect
to the MS Movement. They include, among others, Alessandra Ambrosio,
Ryan Asdourian, Tyler Campbell, Courtney Galiano,Phil Keoghan, Zoe
Koplowitz, Shemar Moore, Jack Osbourne, David Osmond, Bill Pullman,
Rain Pryor, Julie Roberts, Lauren Bedford Russell, Noah "40" Shebib,
Richard Cohen and Meredith Vieira, Clay Walker, and Tom Wallisch. Fans
can also look for celebrity postings on their individual face book
pages and twitter accounts
-- Times Square: The 2014 Connections Public Service Announcements
will be spotlighted on mega-electronic billboards in New York City's
Times Square for millions of people to see during the month of March.
-- In Washington, D.C.-The U.S Senate adopted a resolution (S.Res.366)
expressing support for the goals and ideals of MS Awareness Week and a
resolution is expected to be introduced in the House as well the first
week in March. The Society also received a Presidential Message
honoring people with MS. As a follow-on to MS Awareness Week, over
three-hundred MS Activists will gather for the Society's annual public
policy conference, and to make personal visits on Capitol Hill to
advocate for issues that will help people with MS move their lives
forward, such as sustained MS research funding through the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Congressionally Directed Medical
Research Programs (CDMRP), robust funding of the Food & Drug
Administration (FDA), co-sponsorship of a bill that would create a
separate benefit in Medicare for complex rehab technology, and support
of the Congressional MS Caucus.
-- Across the U.S.A.-In cities coast-to-coast, people affected by MS
are creating awareness by lighting high-profile buildings and bridges
in orange, hosting and attending community events that raise funds to
drive MS research, collaborating with legislators to secure lasting
changes in public policy, and sharing their stories of life with MS
with the public through social media, letters to the editor, and news
stories.
About Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the
central nervous system, interrupts the flow of information within the
brain, and between the brain and body. Symptoms range from numbness
and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and
specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but
advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world
free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20
and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being
diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 2.3 million
worldwide.
About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
The Society mobilizes people and resources to drive research for a
cure and to address the challenges of everyone affected by MS. To
fulfill this mission, the Society funds cutting-edge research, drives
change through advocacy, facilitates professional education,
collaborates with MS organizations around the world, and provides
programs and services designed to help people with MS and their
families move their lives forward. To move us closer to creating a
world free of MS, last year alone, the Society invested nearly $50
million to support more than 380 new and ongoing research projects
around the world while providing program services to over one million
people. Join the movement at nationalMSsociety.org.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090302/DC77093LOGO
SOURCE National Multiple Sclerosis Society
-0- 03/03/2014
/CONTACT: Arney Rosenblat, 212-476-0436, arney.rosenblat@nmss.org
/Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090302/DC77093LOGO
/Web Site: http://www.nmss.org
CO: National Multiple Sclerosis Society
ST: New York
IN: HEA SMD
SU: NPT
PRN
-- DC75074 --
0000 03/03/2014 12:07:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
