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Walkers show support in battle against MS
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Danielle Houshton crosses the finish line with Emma Ames on her shoulders during Sunday morning’s 19th annual MS Super Walk that began in Mill Creek MetroParks’ James L. Wick Recreation Area.
By SEAN BARRON
YOUNGSTOWN
When Sharri Brown was about 10, her father, Gary Molnar, was diagnosed with progressive multiple sclerosis, a condition that greatly affected the course of her life.
“My dad had a lot of pain; the pain was overwhelming,” Brown recalled about Gary Molnar, who died in October 1998 from complications related to MS.
Before his illness, Molnar worked for a car dealership in New Castle, Pa., she said.
Her father, as well as an aunt who suffers from the disease, were two reasons the Canfield woman participated in Sunday’s 19th annual MS Super Walk. It began in Mill Creek MetroParks’ James L. Wick Recreation Area, on the city‘s West Side.
Several hundred people took part in the four-mile walk, sponsored by the Canfield-based Multiple Sclerosis Services Agency and intended to raise roughly $20,000 to start a therapeutic horseback-riding program, organizers said.
The nonprofit agency provides services to people in Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull counties who have physical challenges because of MS.
Gary Molnar’s disease and positive attitude inspired Brown to become a physical and occupational therapist, both of which have allowed her to work with people of all ages with a variety of challenges. She now works as a certified occupational therapy assistant with children in the Mahoning County school system who have Down syndrome, autism and other special needs.
“I was his legs,” Brown added, referring to when she performed therapy treatments on her father, who was paralyzed and, for about 10 years, bedridden.
It’s imperative that family members of someone with a diagnosis maintain hope and an upbeat attitude, and to keep the person as mobile, sharp and alert as possible, she advised.
Brown and longtime friend Jennifer Christopher of Salem also were the first two participants to return from the long walk.
Christopher, a teacher’s aide at Little Friends Preschool in Salem, said she doesn’t know anyone affected by the disease. Nevertheless, that didn’t dim her desire to show her support.
“I hope more research is done to find more causes and help with rehabilitation,” said Christopher, for whom this was her second walk.
On hand to show his support was Tony Mastrangelo of Salem, who was diagnosed in 1980 after having worked 21 years for a milk company.
Mastrangelo is able to walk slightly and get into and out of vehicles, but sometimes uses a wheelchair, he said. Regardless of physical impairments, however, a positive attitude makes a tremendous difference in the person’s quality of life, he contends.
“I have to accept it,” he said. “You can’t look at it as, ‘Why did this happen to me?’”
Helping to serve food at the event was Mastrangelo’s wife, Sara, a board member with the local MS agency.
Gatherings such as Sunday’s walk are important for people with the disease, in part to help them know they’re accepted, explained John Sandfrey, another board member.
Many with MS tend to appreciate small, everyday aspects of life and take less for granted, observed Sanfrey, of Austintown, who’s participated four years in the walk.
“It’s all about being a team and being one to overcome this disease,” he said of the event.
The horseback-riding program will be beneficial because many with MS have difficulty maintaining their equilibrium and balance, noted Joseph R. Chevraux, executive director of the Multiple Sclerosis Services Agency.
One riding facility each is to be in Southington, Green Township and East Palestine, and all have to be accredited by the Denver-based North American Riding for the Handicapped Association, Chevraux said, adding that he hopes the three are ready by mid-November.
Anyone wishing to make donations should send them to the Multiple Sclerosis Services Agency, 23 Lisbon St., Suite G, Canfield 44406 or call 330-533-6772. To donate online, log on to www.msyoungstown.org