LIHUE — Corina Scoggins is walking at the annual Walk and Roll MS — Sunset Stroll, March 31 starting at 4 p.m. at the Kapaa Beach Park.
“The walk title was modified for this year,” said Cynthia Edralin, another walker. “Last year, someone said we needed to take into account those people who can no longer walk, but instead are confined to wheelchairs. This changed the MS Walk to ‘MS Walk and Roll.’ I can still walk, but not very far, so I’m walking just a short distance.”
Scoggins is walking, too, after moving here from Texas.
“I am enthusiastically walking in the MS Walk and Roll,” she said. “I’m fortunate that I am able to walk — some people with Multiple Sclerosis cannot. I am fortunate that my mobility hasn’t been limited by MS.”
The MS Walk and Roll — Sunset Stroll is designed to raise awareness about the disease that interrupts the flow of information between the brain and the body, stopping people from moving. It also serves as a fundraiser to help with programs and services to enhance the lives of those with MS as well as meet the constant changing needs of those who live with MS on Kauai and their families.
During the MS Walk held last year, more than $47,485 was raised during the MS campaign which launched earlier in the year at the Kalaheo Steak and Ribs. This was more than any other county in the state, and the generosity of the community helps people living with MS move closer to a world free of MS. This includes the development of effective treatments and a wide range of client programs to improve the lives of the 800 individuals in Hawaii who live with MS.
Scoggins, who lives in Kalaheo, is one of those people, having moved to Kauai because of MS.
“We moved from Austin, Texas, a wonderful city,” Scoggins said. “The temperatures are very hot there for about four months of the year, and I felt like a prisoner trapped inside air conditioned spaces — car, office, house, and even to another air conditioned place to meet up with friends, or to a movie with my husband. I used to love summer and all of its activities, but MS in Texas changed that. I used dread the coming of spring knowing that summer followed.”
Scoggins moved here in April of 2017, and the summer was amazing.
“This past summer, I was able to be as active as I wanted,” she said. “I didn’t dread walking out the front door into the heat — the hottest days on Kauai were like a cool summer day in Austin. I had several days when I got overheated from cleaning and had to take a long nap to recover. But I did not have any fatigue episodes that kept me in bed, or on the couch for two, or three days — something that happened during summers in Austin.”
Scoggins said not all people with MS, suffer in heat.
“For myself, heat worsens MS symptoms,” she said. “That meant that I have experienced extreme fatigue more often, sometimes just after being in a hot car while waiting for the AC to kick in. The hot temperatures on Kauai were in the upper 80s — a lot better than the 95 to 100-plus degrees in Texas.”
She said the fatigue suffered by people living with MS is not the same as being sleepy, or tired.
“Imagine having a large heavy down comforter soaked in water draped around your shoulders and walking around with it,” she said. “But before that, getting out of bed takes all your energy. Then, you put the water-soaked comforter on and drag it with you to the couch where you have to lie down from the strain of that short walk. That’s one way to imagine MS fatigue.”
More than a million people in the United States lives with MS, and a new diagnosis is made every hour of the day.
“I have been living with MS since at least 1998,” Scoggins said. “That was when I noticed the symptoms that later became identified as relapsing-remittance MS. Fatigue and fatigue management were the biggest impact on my life. Cognitive changes caused me to retire early from my career as an equity analyst on the investment team of a large public pension fund. I was able to continue working for some years with modifications and the support of my managers, but I took a lot of sick time due to my fatigue episodes. Beyond the impact on my career, my activities were limited because of managing fatigue by making daily choices to budget my energy and reduce the possibility of a fatigue flare up. My life became smaller because maintaining good health through very healthy eating and using most of my energy to budget for work and regular exercise meant I couldn’t do much else.”
Scoggins did not get diagnosed with MS until her family moved to Texas in 1998.
“I didn’t go to the doctor for the MS symptoms,” she said. “I needed to get established with a new doctor after moving. The doctor I went to asked if there was anything that he should know about in addition to my basic health background information. Prior to the visit, I had some odd sensations that would come and go on the top of one of my feet — feelings of heat, but my right foot was not any warmer than my left one. I also had sensations in my right leg — tingling and the feeling that my leg had fallen asleep. As it turned out, the doctor’s former wife had MS and he was familiar with what those symptoms could mean. Following a back x-ray showed no problems, he scheduled an MRI which showed lesions typical of MS.”
Following her move to Kauai, Scoggins got to meet a support group here.
“Going to the support group was like walking into a happy hour of friends from work, or your neighbors,” she said. “Being connected to someone else living with MS reduces the isolation that can come with living with a chronic disease. You already have something significant in common even though you may not know them that well. Immediately, I can talk, text, or email with someone who knows what it means when I say that I haven’t been able to do what I enjoy, or need to do because of fatigue. These people know that I’m not lazy, or suffering from lack of sleep. They know that it’s a real bummer to have your plans — even if it’s just to work in the garden — interrupted by MS symptoms. I feel so blessed to have become connected to them so soon after moving here. Just like the residents of Kauai, the MS support group has shown me incredible kindness. When they say ‘Aloha,’ I feel it in my heart.”
Everyone is invited to join Scoggins and everyone else for an afternoon of fun, fellowship, and to help raise funds for the fight against MS.
••• Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
