When members of the MS Walk and Run team “Memory Lapses” showed up in Red Deer on Sunday, May 25, they also brought with them roughly $10,000 in donations raised to help fight back against the debilitating illness.
Philippa Brysiuk, the founding member of the team and an Multiple Sclerosis ambassador, also raised $6,000 on her own.
“It was a beautiful, sunny day,” she said. “There were lots and lots of people and it was a very festive atmosphere.”
The annual walk takes place in May all across Canada, and walkers raise money for research into cures and treatment for MS, as well as education and support.
“Central Alberta has one of the best MS support teams out there,” Brysiuk said, her voice all but glowing with praise.
In addition to her coworkers, who make up Memory Lapses, Brysiuk was joined by her husband, daughter, and two grandsons as she scootered through the two kilometre walk.
Brysiuk hasn’t been able to walk the walk in two years. The two kilometres are simply too tough for someone who “has trouble walking two blocks.”
Still, research into MS is moving ahead and providing help. Recent trials on people with fast-acting MS have been so successful that after a few years, people who were all but wheelchair-bound are now symptom free and back at work.
Brysiuk hopes a cure for other types of MS will come in her life time, but even if they don’t, she has no intention to stop fighting.
Or stop walking, even if she has to do it from her scooter.