Five thousand cyclists rode Sunday to raise money for multiple sclerosis research. NY1′s Tara Lynn Wagner filed the following report.
They pedaled and showed their mettle. Five thousand cyclists hit the road for a cause that, for many, hits close to home.
Roughly a third of the participants in this 30th annual event are riding with multiple sclerosis.
“It’s amazing. It’s really inspirational. I give a hand to them really because it’s really difficult,” one rider says.
For Darren Lee and his wife, this ride is a milestone. He was diagnosed almost a year ago when his daily six mile run started to become a challenge.
“Running became kind of a shuffle, then a walk. The last year had been a process of getting back into shape and getting healthy again,” Lee says.
MS is a disease of the central nervous system that tends to strike in the prime of life.
Chandra Platt, 27, was diagnosed last November.
“I went blind very quickly in my left eye and started going blind in my right eye over the course of four days,” Platt says.
A year later, her vision is almost back to normal and she’s been able to manage her symptoms well enough to tackle the longest of Sunday’s rides.
Participants choose from three courses—a 30-mile loop around Manhattan or the longer 55 or 100-mile rides that take them up into Rockland County and back. The highlights and challenges are different for each.
“It’s great. It’s a hard climb and it’s a fun ride,” says one rider.
“Hopefully, there will be some fall foliage as we get get further north—Rockland county,” another says.
Whatever gets their wheels turning, the goal is the same: to raise money for research as well as local support programs for people living with MS.
“I definitely became more active after I was diagnosed. It motivated me to do things while I still can,” says rider Tal Fishman.
“They make the adaptions. There are lots of disease-modifying therapies and symptom management therapies,” says Liz samurovich of the NYC chapter of the National MS Society.
Just ask Patricia Loscalzo who took daily injections for 11 years. Now she takes a pill—an advancement made possible by events like this. She has advice for the newly diagnosed.
“Hang in there. One day at a time. Hopefully, we are making strides. I’m living proof of that,” Loscalzo says.
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