Flying for MS…
“I realized very quickly how little I knew about what having this disease meant. Most people have no real idea of the challenges that people with MS face. I was especially moved by people’s resilience, which is often remarkable.”
Andrei was so moved that he decided to do something different in order to raise the visibility of MS among a message-fatigued public. “Research is very important, and MS organizations such as the National MS Society raise a great deal of money for research. But global awareness of the disease and its effects are just as important—and pressing,” he explained. “In Poland, for instance, less than 10% of the 60,000 people living with MS even have access to a disease-modifying drug. I believe that greater public awareness would change that, would make MS more of a priority.”
A passionate private pilot, Andrei began to work with fellow pilots and colleagues to develop Fly for MS, a 61-day, 29,000 mile journey from the U.S. to the Asian edges of Europe and back, landing in 30 countries along the way. “We wanted to do something that would be both meaningful for people with MS and that would draw international media attention,” Andrei said.
Andrei and one other pilot will be making several stops in each country, flying people with MS to hospitals they could not otherwise reach and flying MS specialists to hospitals where less is known about MS. “We’re also going to be taking journalists and more than 100 people with MS on sight-seeing flights to beautiful remote areas of the world where few people have even been.”
“Some of the people flying with us,” Andrei continued, “including a few who use wheelchairs or who would find it difficult to get on some commercial airlines, will be given the opportunity to work the controls—to actually fly the plane. One person with MS who will be boarding in Austria asked us if he could fly because he had been in training to be a pilot when he became severely affected by MS. He never got his license.”
Andrei hopes the campaign will raise public awareness among people who know little to nothing yet about the disease. Before taking off on August 31, he’d already landed a story in the Wall Street Journal and had connected with national and local media in nearly every country Fly for MS will be visiting.
Andrei also hopes to inspire others to make a difference by doing what they already love to do. “Many people associate volunteerism with doing tasks that you wouldn’t necessarily want to do. But if you have a passion for something, you can use that passion and make a difference in people’s lives. I’m just a normal person—not a celebrity or millionaire—but I organized Fly for MS with a few equally passionate people that I know. Anyone can do it.”
Follow the journey at www.flyms.org.