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Raising funds for MS
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
For about 10 years, Brian While’s job as a truck driver took him all over the United States and Canada, but in 2009, he started to notice a deceased ability to perform everyday tasks.
“I couldn’t write in the log books, and I didn’t know why,” the Austintown man recalled.
His condition only worsened, resulting in While’s having fallen out of his truck because he was unable to grip a set of hand bars. In addition, he found it harder to walk and temporarily lost vision in his left eye — symptoms that mimicked a small stroke.
A battery of tests, including an MRI at the Cleveland Clinic, revealed lesions in his head and spine. They also pinpointed the real source of While’s difficulties: multiple sclerosis.
Despite his challenges from the neurological disease, While was among those who took part in Sunday’s 23rd annual MS Super Walk, which began in Mill Creek MetroParks’ James L. Wick Jr. Recreation Area on the West Side.
The 4-mile course through the park allowed participants to gather donations in flat amounts or on a per-mile basis for those with MS. Prizes were awarded based on the funds raised.
Hosting the gathering was the Canfield-based Multiple Sclerosis Services Agency Inc., which serves Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
While said that he has a lot of fatigue, one of the disease’s most-common symptoms, and that he occasionally uses a cane. Once a week, he takes Avonex, one of seven drugs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved as a treatment.
Avonex is a beta product that is injected weekly into muscle tissue and is commonly used to decrease the frequency of relapses in MS.
The disease’s frequency and duration of symptoms vary widely. Some people have the progressive type that continues to worsen over time, while others, such as Carla Amann of Austintown are able to function relatively unscathed.
“I’m one of the lucky ones who is still very mobile and can do pretty much what anyone else can do,” Amann said before she and two family members set out on the walk.
Accompanying Amann
were her 13-year-old daughter, Tianna Amann, and her mother, Ginny Betke of New Waterford.
Carla Amann, a librarian at Austintown Intermediate School, was diagnosed in 1992, but has had no recent relapses. Even though she has a few symptons, Amann had been off medication for about a year, she said.
Amann recalled receiving the bad news shortly after having gotten engaged to her then-fiance. Nevertheless, she tried to stay strong emotionally and is convinced that a positive attitude goes a long way toward better managing the disease.
“I was determined that this is not going to get me down,” said Amann, adding that she now takes daily injections with few side effects.
Also grateful for her strength and determination is Tianna, an Austintown Middle School eighth-grader who helps her mother around the house when needed.
“She’s amazing. I can’t get over all she does,” Betke added.
Close to 800 people are registered with the Multiple Sclerosis Services Agency, which receives no government funding, noted Carol Danus, the agency’s vice president.
Danus, who was diagnosed with MS in 1968 at age 20, also noted that the agency’s free offerings to those with the disease include swimming programs at the YMCA of Youngstown and the Davis Family YMCA in Boardman; a clinic the first and third Wednesdays of each month at St. Elizabeth Health Center; and the distribution of donated merchandise such as wheelchairs and air-conditioning units.
People usually learn that they have the disease between age 20 and 40, but an increasing number of children are being diagnosed, Danus continued, adding that the Mahoning Valley has a high incidence of MS.
In addition, the disease can be erratic, meaning that symptoms can occur suddenly at any time. That often increases the difficulty in organizing one’s day, she said.
“As people with MS, it’s very hard to plan,” Danus added. “MS doesn’t give you any warning.”