October 1, 2015 – Last month Marshall Painter and Terri Latimer attended an event near and dear to their heart, the Bike for Multiple Sclerosis. This year’s event was held at Callaway Gardens where over 1,000 riders came to support this great cause. Over $500,000 was raised to help find a cure for MS, an unpredictable, disabling disease of the central nervous system.
Marshall and Terri met at this event in 2009 and have been participating together ever since. Terri’s good friend from college, Nick is the reason they ride. He was diagnosed with MS, just before the ride in 2009.
Each year Terri strives to raise money that will be used for research to find the cause, treatment and ultimately the cure for multiple sclerosis. Over 1 million American’s live daily with this unpredictable disease, which has symptoms ranging from tingling and numbness to blindness and paralysis.
Since being diagnosed 6 years ago, Nick has since opened his own business and enjoys being able to control his own time. After trying a few medications, he’s now part of a 2 year experimental drug that helps to keep relapses from happening. Nick’s worst relapse left him partially blind in one eye and unable to walk, crawl and hardly speak. Though he’s recovered from this relapse, MS continues to be a daily challenge. “Living with MS is difficult, yet tolerable once you understand what you should and shouldn’t do,” stated Nick.
At this year’s Bike for MS, Terri rode a total of 136 miles. On day 1, she rode over 8 hours for 100 miles and just over 30 miles on day 2. Afterward she and Marshall enjoyed the music, food and fun.
Terri continues to participate in century rides, riding for 100 miles, across the country to support MS and help raise awareness. Though Nick is thankful for having a type of MS that you’re able to recover from relapses, others are not so fortunate. Harsher forms of MS can cause complete loss of mobility and leave you wheelchair bound very quickly after being diagnosed.
For more information on Multiple Sclerosis or to donate to Terri’s friend Nick, please click HERE and click ‘donate’ at the top of the page.