Momentum

Passionate determination

In 1945, Sylvia Lawry was told that her brother, Bernard, had eveloped MS. Determined to do something for Bernard, Sylvia placed an ad in The New York Times: “Multiple sclerosis. Will anyone recovered from it please communicate with patient.” With those 11 words— and the passion behind them— an activist was born.

Sylvia built on the powerful connections she began to make with others. She founded the National MS Society the next year and, in 1967, she launched the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation—huge cultural shifts that had begun with her resolve to change her brother’s life for the better.

MARK KIRYLUK

Sylvia’s activism set the stage for all of us to follow. I think of Mickey Bassman, who one afternoon in 2003, watched her husband Chuck struggle to get up the stairs over the dunes at their favorite beach in New Jersey. Mickey knew it didn’t have to be this hard. She encouraged Chuck to write a two-sentence petition for accessible beach access; together they circulated it throughout the neighborhood and wrote letters to local papers, not letting up until several beach entrances in the area had been made accessible to all.

All over the country, the

All of us in the MS Movement are connected by
the passion to create meaningful change in the lives
of people affected by MS. We are activists.

passion of the MS Movement moves others and changes lives. In Texas, Kim and Gary Campbell were outraged by the situation of family caregivers in the state, who work tirelessly without pay and often on top of other full-time work. They resolved to visit the capital of Austin, where they shared their own story with state lawmakers. That powerful act of connection resulted in special funding for Texas families caring for a loved one at home.

Last March, a man in Connecticut and a woman in Washington, D.C., decided they could no longer be silent about how long it took for the Social Security Administration to review Social Security Disability Insurance applications. Believing something had to be done now to change the situation, Dr. John Booss and Yvonne Brown met up in D.C., where they testified before the U.S. Social Security Administration. Thanks to their resolve, many people who have lost their jobs due to MS will now receive their SSDI benefits much sooner than before.

And this March, hundreds of people affected by MS will rally

at our nation’s Capitol, meeting with political leaders to be sure the voices of the MS movement are heard and that we drive necessary change to improve lives.

Passionate determination.

It connects all of us who want to do something NOW about MS. Whether it’s pushing for change in our communities, our states or in Washington, D.C., we must all be MS activists. (Visit nationalMSsociety.org/ advocacy to get engaged.)