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400 walk to raise money to fight MS
400 participate in fundraiser to fight MS
By Jordan Cohen
NILES
Haylee Mathews of Cortland seems like any other 16-year old, but her story is far from typical.
Haylee, a Lakeview High School junior and a member of the soccer team, has multiple sclerosis, but she is not about to let it define her.
“I can do everything anyone else can do,” she said. “It’s just something you have to live with.”
MS attacks the central nervous system and sometimes disables it. Medical science has yet to determine a cause.
Haylee was one of nearly 400 people who turned out on a sunny and cool Saturday morning outside Easatwood Field for Mahoning Valley Walk MS, a fundraising effort sponsored by the Ohio Buckeye Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Haylee said she first experienced symptoms during a soccer match. “My leg got numb, tingly and wouldn’t move,” she said. “I thought it was a pinched nerve.”
Her father, Don Mathews, said two medical diagnoses confirmed MS. Since then, Haylee has received regular infusions of medication.
“She hasn’t had an episode since,” Mathews said.
His daughter had plenty of support, as more than 75 people donned black “Team Haylee” T-shirts to walk with her and donate. Her team raised more than $10,000 – the largest amount by any of the
teams according to organizers.
Society members did not have final figures on the total amount raised late Saturday but hoped to exceed $60,000.
Walkers who live with MS had no shortage of stories. Nick Giangiordano of New Middletown was a corporal in the Marine Corps deployed in Iraq for 10 months when he first experienced symptoms in 2007. He had to leave the service when the diagnosis was confirmed.
Within the last year, Giangiordano, 33, said he has undergone two specialized treatments and is seeing results.
“I can do some exercise like jumping jacks and can run a little,” he said, adding that he has not been able to run the way he would like for five years. “I’m doing OK; I’m getting there,” he said.
Stephen Zubyk, 26, of Boardman, accompanied by his team, walked in memory of his mother, Mary Ellen, who died at the age of 47 in 2012 from cancer coupled with MS. He said the disease takes its toll on families.
“It’s so difficult to witness,” he said. “You feel terrible because there is almost nothing you can do.”
Samantha Villella of Boardman, however, one of the walk organizers, said the message from the fundraiser is one of support for MS victims. “We want them to know they’re not alone,” she said. “You can see that here.”
Villella has a personal stake in the fight against MS. She does not have the disease, but her 64-year-old mother Kathy, who uses a wheelchair, and her sister do. Both participated in the walk.
“There is nothing they can do for my MS,” said Kathy Villella, who was diagnosed in 2008. “Only a miracle of God can help me now, but there’s a lot of people out there who are doing worse.”
In Ohio, more than 20,000 cases of MS have been reported while the National MS Society estimates the figure worldwide at 2.1 million. Samantha Villella said those numbers graphically illustrate the need for funding more research that will help find a cure for the disease.
“Pretty soon, I believe we will live in a world free of MS,” she said.