While the event was founded by women who wanted to come together in bringing us closer to a world free of MS, we also invite and encourage men to attend and participate. Two thirds of people living with MS are women, and women often are care providers. The MS Women on the Move Luncheon creates an opportunity to empower each other to create a better future for those living with MS. We also recognize the importance of male caregivers and supporters to the women in their lives.
Exciting breakthroughs are happening in the area of research, and there is a consensus that we are getting closer to unlocking the mystery of MS. Additional funds are urgently needed to continue this vital work. Approximately 400,000 Americans acknowledge having MS and every week about 200 people are diagnosed. Multiple Sclerosis is typically diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, often during the prime years of one’s life. More and more teenagers and even children are now known to have multiple sclerosis. Two to three times as many women as men have MS.
2013 Women on the Move Luncheon Keynote Speaker
Ronda Giangreco
On July 26th Ronda Giangreco, healthy, vibrant and just back from her latest adventure at a cooking school in Italy, was busy planning her next big dinner party. She and her husband had spent the day sampling wines in the Napa Valley with friends. Life was good.
One day later she was a disabled woman.
A sudden onset of Multiple Sclerosis would be difficult for anyone to accept. But for Ronda and her husband it was a particularly cruel twist of fate. His mother had died of the disease.
Told she might not be able to walk for much longer, she asked herself the question, “…then where should I walk now?”
Her answer – to the kitchen! As an avowed “foodie,” she had always enjoyed cooking for friends and family. But when she made the audacious vow to her husband that she would create a big Italian feast every Sunday for a year, he thought she had lost her mind. But she was determined. With steaming plates of pasta she would attempt to triumph over Multiple Sclerosis one week at a time.
The story of her journey through the pain and confusion of Multiple Sclerosis, coupled with the healing balm of her lovingly prepared meals, is told with humor, grace and heart wrenching honesty. Her new book, The Gathering Table: Defying MS with a Year of Pasta, Wine, & Friends will have you running to the kitchen for your own remedy to life’s challenges.
