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WalkM.S. Event Targets Multiple Sclerosis

Cheryl Bentley/SUNCOAST

In her work as a speech-language pathologist at Community Hospital in New Port Richey, Debbie Moore occasionally works with multiple sclerosis patients. For patients with difficulty swallowing, she places the eletrodes of this machine on the patient's neck to stimulate the swallowing muscles. Moore herself has multiple sclerosis.

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By Cheryl  Bentley | The Suncoast News

Published: February 25, 2009

Debbie Moore thought she needed glasses. But a visit to the optometrist and subsequent tests indicated a more serious problem behind her impaired vision. Moore was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Six years later, Moore, an Oldsmar resident, is looking forward to both M.S. Awareness Week from March 2 to March 6 and the annual walkM.S. fundraisers in various central Florida locations on March 14 and March 28, in which walkers raise money for the National M.S. Society Mid Florida Chapter.

The chapter provides programs and services to more than 10,000 people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and their families in a 23-county area.

Moore will attend the walk at Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. Another walk on the Suncoast will take place March 14 in Largo.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that attacks the nervous system and interrupts the flow of information between the brain and the body.

It destroys myelin, the tissue that insulates nerve fibers, thereby interfering with the transmission of nerve signals.

M.S. can present varied symptoms.

They include blurred vision, poor coordination, numbness and extreme fatigue. Other symptoms are memory impairment, paralysis and blindness.

Moore has been doing walkM.S. the past six years. Last year, she recruited about 30 friends and family to join her. Her team raised about $5,000.

"It's rewarding to see so many people out there for the same reason," she notes.

These days, Moore, who is a speech-language pathologist at Community Hospital of New Port Richey, where she occasionally works with multiple sclerosis patients with speech difficulties, is living comfortably with the disease.

"I kind of had my little period of mourning and moved on," she recalls. Her main symptom now is occasional fatigue.

Moore is in the relapsing-remitting form of the disease, in which worsening attacks are followed by complete or partial recovery periods during which the M.S. doesn't progress. Relapsing-remitting is the disease's most common form and may last many years.

In the secondary-progressive stage, the condition worsens more steadily. It often follows the relapsing-remitting stage.

Two other stages are primary progressive and progressive-relapsing, both characterized by steadily worsening neurological function from the onset.

Moore injects herself daily with Copaxone, one of the drugs used to treat the disease. These drugs help prevent its further progression.

Some people skip the injections, she says, because they show no symptoms. But they don't realize the drugs prevent the progression of the condition as well as treat symptoms.

According to Tami Caesar of Maitland, president of the Mid Florida Chapter, one of the most difficult aspects of multiple sclerosis is its variability.

If 20 multiple sclerosis patients were in a room, all would exhibit different symptoms, she says. "The disease is not clear and not set. It's highly unpredictable."

In particular, in the relapsing-remitting stage, there are symptoms such as fatigue, blurry vision, numbness or tingling that the patient feels but are not noticeable to others.

As a result, outsiders may not be aware of the extent of the patient's suffering. "Sometimes, they think if you're not in a wheelchair, M.S. must not be that bad. That's not true," Caesar observed.

In Florida, 20,000 individuals have been diagnosed with the disease. Nationwide, that number is 400,000.

Although it is still in the basic research stage, stem cell therapy shows promise, says Caesar. The research focuses on getting stem cells to regenerate the nerve-insulating myelin.

There is a self-help group for people with multiple sclerosis at the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, in Palm Harbor. Call Bud at 727-698-4346 for more information. For more information on the walks, visit www.midflordamswalks.org or call 1-888-950-9080.

Cheryl Bentley can be reached at 727-815-1069 or cbentley@suncoastnews.com.

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