Annual walk brings those living with MS, family, friends to raise program funds

CANFIELD

Nikki Villella enjoys her job as a crisis counselor, spending time with family and living a normal life in nearly all respects – all of which make it difficult to believe she was diagnosed a few years ago with multiple sclerosis.

That contrast also illustrates what nearly everyone with MS and those who know someone with the disease will point out: that no room exists to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach.

“I take meds orally twice a day and exercise at a gym, and I take barre classes,” explained Villella, who was diagnosed in March 2014 with a type called relapsing-remitting MS after having experienced unusual tingling in her hands and feet as well as blurred vision. “I get fatigued easily if I don’t sleep enough.”

Villella initially went to a chiropractor because her neck “felt out of whack,” but an MRI showed lesions, all of which led to her diagnosis, she recalled.

Villella, who works for Coleman Behavioral Health, was among the 30 members of KV’s Krew, one of the estimated 34 teams that took part in Saturday morning’s annual Walk MS Mahoning Valley at Canfield Fairgrounds, including Villellal’s mother, Kathy Villella, who uses a wheelchair after having received a diagnosis in 2008.

Participants gathered with friends, family and support members to walk about 1.5 miles around the fairgrounds during the fundraiser event in which money was raised to provide services and programs to those with MS, noted Jennifer Hamilton, vice president of marketing and development for the National MS Society’s Ohio Buckeye Chapter.

Read more about the event in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.