Alpena Recognizes World MS Day
Recently Alpena’s mayor, Matthew Waligora, proclaimed today as World Multiple Sclerosis Day in Alpena.
The city’s proclamation coincides with a global World MS Day effort, which is held annually in may to bring attention to multiple sclerosis.It’s an unpredictable and often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain and throughout the body.
“As a result you get slower nerve transmissions and you get changes in conditions…walking, something, sleep, talking, pain, anything can occur with it,” said Rob Stafford, Physical Therapist.
As a physical therapist Rob Stafford often works with people dealing with the condition. He focuses on helping those affected improve their quality of life.
“Really it’s the quality of life no matter what. Once you get this disease it doesn’t go away. There is no cure but there’s lots of different treatment,” said Stafford.
The theme for MS Day this year is ‘Life with MS’, and those dealing with the condition know first hand that it’s not an easy journey.
“Things that people take for granted…I cannot fumble with an earring, I have to have clasps, I can’t put a necklace on, a lot of weakness, blurred vision sometimes, things like that,” said Deanna Harrison, MS patient. The national multiple sclerosis society says more than 18,000 Michiganders are diagnosed with ms, generally affecting people between the ages of 20 and 50.
Stafford says that this day is just the beginning of creating a brighter future for ms patients.
“The more we can talk about this the more people start understanding it, the earlier the diagnosis the earlier the intervention, the earlier they get treatments to improve their life today,” said Stafford.
