I’m embarking on my first MS Challenge Walk, and going to Door County to join my sisters on their team, The Blister Sisters. They are Challenge Walk veterans for many years.
We are also not fundraising newbies. We grew up going door to door asking for donations during the Jerry Lewis Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy in the late 1970s…it was a yearly occasion, and we always overachieved. I wish I could find a picture of us! That same spirit is with us now. We’re so close to $30,000 as a team and I think we will get there.
Outside of physically being able to walk 50 miles in 3 days (we’ll see!) I wanted to walk this year because the MS Society needs our help in raising funds. Research cuts have been deep for the MS community, and look like they may be again next year.
The Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) was established by Congress in 2009 to fund innovative and novel research. It is broken into groups by disease, with the Multiple Sclerosis Research Program (MSRP) being one of them. The MSRP has been the largest federal source of research funding for MS over the years, and in 2024 was funded at $20 million. Funding for the MSRP was brought to zero for 2025 – along with funding over 20 other chronic conditions in the CDMRP. The 2026 funding looks to be also zero, which is extremely unfortunate because we’ve come so far, and cutting $40 million in MS research when we are getting so close to a cure is not good for anyone, especially people living with MS and researchers doing the work to find a cure.
The MS Society is a huge source of research funding in itself, and that is why I’m trying to raise as much money as possible for the MS Challenge Walk. I’ll definitely post updates – maybe even stream them on the Facebook page.
If you are moved to do so, you can donate to our team by visiting this link.
If you are interested in learning more about advocacy, here’s where you can learn about joining the thousands of MS Activists. Thank you!