National Multiple Sclerosis Society

Accessibility Navigation:

Skip to resource navigation
Skip to primary navigation
Skip to section navigation
Skip to content

Site Search:

Resource Navigation:

Primary Navigation:

Breadcrumb Navigation:

National Home > Chapters > Hampton Roads > Programs & Services > Programs > Annual Programs > Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week > 2013 MS Awareness Week (MSAW)

User Options:

Text Size

Section Navigation:

Hampton Roads

2013 MS Awareness Week (MSAW)

NORFOLK ADMIRALS MS AWARENESS NIGHT: A GREAT SUCCESS!

Thank you to everyone who came out to the first Norfolk Admirals MS Awareness Night! Over 300 people joined together to kick off March, the month of MS Awareness. There was a great sea of orange in the stands and the Admirals had a 6-2 victory!

FLAG DOWN MS: MARCH 11 @ 5-6:30 PM (SOUTHSIDE & PENINSULA LOCATIONS)

Because EVERY CONNECTION COUNTS, the chapter would like to invite you to join us as we put together a visual Flag Down MS 2012 display to spread awareness about MS. At Flag Down MS, we will CONNECT and decorate a prominent location on the Southside and Peninsula with one orange flag for everyone who lives with MS in the Hampton Roads Chapter territory.

What does 2,830 look like? TOO MANY!

Southside: Thalia Lynn Baptist Church—4392 Virginia Beach Boulevard, Virginia Beach, VA 23462

Peninsula: Boulevard Park—Corner of J. Clyde Morris Blvd. & Warwick Blvd., Newport News, VA 23601

For more information, contact Robyn Hirsch at 757-490-9627 x46208 or robyn.hirsch@nmss.org.

JOIN US AT GORDON BIERSCH FOR THEIR GRAND REOPENING!

Join us on March 13 from 7:30-10:30 pm as Gordon Biersch celebrates their Grand Reopening! They will be auctioning off artwork from the restaurant and tapping a barrel of Blonde Bock with proceeds to benefit the Hampton Roads Chapter.

PEACE FROGS

Peace Frogs is proud to introduce their “MS Gets on My Nerves” MS frog to help raise awareness. Purchase your t-shirt through our special Hampton Roads Chapter link and 15% of the proceeds come back to the chapter.

MANY WAYS TO JOIN

No matter where you live, what you do and who you are, there are lots of ways to participate in MS Awareness Week. We’ve collected ideas nationwide to share what people have done to raise awareness of MS, but MS Awareness Week is also about expressing your own unique experience of the disease.

Here are some ways to get involved:

TAKE ACTION

Contact your legislators and urge them to support issues of importance to you and the MS community. Sign up at www.nationalMSsociety.org/MSActivist.
Sign up for our monthly MS eNEWS at www.nationalMSsociety.org/signup for the latest on research, legislation and more that impacts people living with MS.

JOIN AN EVENT

Join us March 12 at Ruby Tuesday (4488 Va. Bch. Blvd., VB) for a special Community Give Back Night to benefit the Hampton Roads Chapter. Please note, you need to present the required flyer.
Join us March 23 at Ruby Tuesday (2757 Godwin Blvd., Suffolk) for a special Community Give Back Night to benefit the Hampton Roads Chapter. Please note, you need to present the required flyer.
Learn about Bike MS, Walk MS, and other events taking place by visiting our fundraising events page.
Or visit DoItYourselfMS.org to find out how to create your own DIY event.

SPREAD AWARENESS

Connect with others to raise awareness at www.MSconnection.org.
Raise MS aWEARness by wearing orange. You could even organize a “Wear Orange” day at your work or school. Need some more orange? Visit the National MS Society store.
Conduct a Facebook campaign asking your friends to dedicate their status or profile picture.
Invite your friends and family to become a fan of the Hampton Roads Chapter on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NMSSHRC).
Gather a group of friends outside of a prominent place and splash the area with orange pom-poms and signs announcing MS Awareness Week.

Visit the MS Awareness Week Website

MSConnection.org

Some Important Facts

MS is a chronic, unpredictable neurological disease that affects the central nervous system.
Different people are likely to experience very different symptoms. No two people have exactly the same symptoms, and each person’s symptoms can change or fluctuate over time. One person might experience only one or two of the possible symptoms while another person experiences many more.
MS is different from muscular dystrophy (MD), which is a group of disorders that cause progressive and irreversible wasting away of muscle tissue. Although MD has some symptoms in common with MS—such as weakness and problems with walking—MD affects the muscles directly while MS affects the central nervous system.
MS is not contagious and is not directly inherited (.pdf).
While most people are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, MS can appear in young children and teens as well as much older adults.
Most people with MS have a normal or near-normal life expectancy.
The majority of people with MS do not become severely disabled.
There are now FDA-approved medications that have been shown to reduce the number of relapses and "modify" or slow down the underlying course of MS.
People who are diagnosed with a clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) have had one episode of neurologic damage that is similar to the damage that occurs in MS, but they have not yet met the criteria for a definite diagnosis of MS.
In the United States today, there are approximately 400,000 people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Worldwide, MS is thought to affect more than 2.1 million people.

People are coming together to share, educate and build awareness about what MS means to them. Together, we are a powerful movement, working to create a world free of MS. Share, connect and raise awareness.

Local MS Awareness Week Media Partners:

921Kissfm logo.jpg