LIHU‘E — Brian Rapozo said it’s been 10 years since he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. “We brought the MS Walk to Kaua‘i when I was diagnosed with MS and I can’t believe that it’s been 10 years,” he said.
LIHU‘E — Brian Rapozo said it’s been 10 years since he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
“We brought the MS Walk to Kaua‘i when I was diagnosed with MS and I can’t believe that it’s been 10 years,” he said.
Some 150 walkers turned out Saturday to take advantage of the beautiful morning at Kukui Grove in a show of support for those with MS and to raise awareness and funds for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Heading up the fundraising on Kaua‘i was Cynthia Edralin, another resident who has MS. She formed Hui Me Kapilialoha and together the group generated about $9,000, according to her father Jerry Correa.
Edralin pointed out a lady in a wheelchair, noting how that patient’s young daughter made some items and went door to door selling them to help her mom in her fight against the debilitating disease.
“The cookbook raised about $4,000,” Correa said. “But it’s amazing to raise $9,000 of the more than $12,000 total.”
Diana Su, the development coordinator of the Hawai‘i division of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, said this year’s total represents a little less than the $15,000 raised during last year’s walk.
Former Councilman Mel Rapozo, the brother of Brian Rapozo, pointed out that recently an employee at the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was diagnosed with MS and Saturday marked her second year participating in the walk.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic and often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system that is made up of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.
Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision. Specific symptoms and progress of MS are unpredictable and vary from one person to the next, according to the MS Web site.
Such was the case of a walker who opted to turn back to the starting point after she felt some tingling in the skin of her legs.
“It’s almost the same feeling when I was diagnosed,” she said, courteously refusing the help of a Kaua‘i Police Department officer who offered to give her a ride back. “I can make it back, but I don’t think I can continue with the rest of the route.”
MS is different from muscular dystrophy 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, MD affects the muscles directly while MS affects the central nervous system.
Last week, the MDA raised more than $48,000 with its annual MDA Lock Up program at Duke’s restaurant at Kalapaki Beach.
For more information on MS, visit www.nationalmssociety.org.
•Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
