What is Your "One Day" Wish for a Life with Multiple Sclerosis?

NEW YORK, May 27, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- To raise awareness of multiple sclerosis (MS), the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation, composed of MS organizations circling the globe, among them the National MS Society, is encouraging people to join together and share their "One Day" wishes about their lives with MS with the world.  Starting in May, visitors to www.worldmsday.org will be able to submit their "One Day" wish, and share it across their social networks. 

On May 28, World MS Day 2014, a "Wish Wall" will be revealed where users can explore the wishes of people from all around the world and learn more about the challenges impeding these wishes as well as many other daily life challenges faced by those living with MS.

The World MS Day campaign unites MS organizations globally and raises awareness of multiple sclerosis and those living with MS in order to improve public understanding and support that will move us closer a world free of MS. This year alone 68 MS organizations have events planned.

Facts about MS you should know:

• Progress continues, but there is still no known cause or cure for MS
• Symptoms of MS often appear between ages 25-31 and can last a lifetime
• Symptoms of MS are unpredictable and vary from person to person
• Treatments and services are improving for people with MS, but not for everyone, everywhere

Facts about World MS Day you show know:                   
The 2014 World MS Day campaign theme is "access." Whether it is access to health care, support, work or educational opportunities, there are many barriers to access which people living with MS face in their everyday lives.

Connect To Break Down Barriers to Access Around the World On World MS Day:

• Highlighting and Sharing Access Issues – If you are living with MS or care about someone who does, think about the access issues faced by people with MS and imagine a world without those barriers in the form of a wish. For example: "One day I'll ride my bike again," "One day I won't have to wait to see a specialist," "One day a simple bite out with friends in a restaurant won't be such a challenge,"  "One day there will be a cure for MS."  Starting on May 5, these positive and hopeful messages were submitted, collected and will be shared on the World MS Day website (www.worldmsday.org) starting on May 28, as well as through social media.
• Learn About Access Issues Across the World – Beginning World MS Day, May 28th, visit www.worldmsday.org to learn about and explore access-related challenges and aspirations around the world. The MS movement is global and everyone, everywhere, deserves access to the means that will help them live their best lives.
• Global Leadership through the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – The National MS Society is asking everyone in the MS movement to contact appropriate legislators to ask them to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, an international human rights treaty established by the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. This is an opportunity to make sure the U.S.A. maintains its leadership role in ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities around the world. http://www.nationalmssociety.org/NationalMSSociety/media/MSNationalFiles/Advocacy/CRPD-USICD-One-Pager.pdf?ext=.pdf
• Driving Awareness and Lasting Change – A nationwide letter writing campaign will engage those affected by MS, or any disability, in making sure access-issues are top-of-mind in communities around the country, raising awareness about MS, and asking people to take meaningful action to create policy change on a global scale.
• Ford Mustang 50 Years Convertible being raffled to benefit the National MS Society
  The National MS Society, coordinated by its Michigan Chapter, is partnering with the Ford Motor Company to raffle off a 2015 Mustang GT 50 Years Convertible.  This 'one of one' vehicle was customized for the Ford/National MS Society raffle.  It is the only 2015 convertible to be built with a performance pack and content from the 50 Year Limited Edition fastback.  Learn more by visiting www.ford4ms.com.  Tickets are $20 each and funds will benefit the Society and the No Opportunity Wasted (NOW) research initiative with a goal of raising $2 million!  The drawing itself is August 16. 
• Twitter Chat - #HealthTalk with Everyday Health - "Research to Help You Access A Better Life With MS" at 1-2 pm ET on May 28.  Everyday Health, a leading digital health and wellness company, is co-hosting with the National MS Society a live #HealthTalk Twitter chat to discuss with two international MS experts' research and the quality of access to resources, tools, and services that will help people with MS lead a better quality of life. The #HealthTalk allows people from all over the world who are living with MS to join in the health discussion by using the hashtag #HealthTalk on Twitter. To join the #HealthTalk, go to http://www.twubs.com/healthtalk and sign in with your Twitter account.
• Live Webcast - "Living Your Best Life" - Taking advantage of the world focus on MS, on June 3, between 2 -3 pm ET, the Society is hosting a webcast featuring prominent international experts who will share updates on leads aimed at restoring function, better managing symptoms and pain, making exercise work for you, addressing cognitive changes, and deciding whether to maintain or switch therapies. To participate visit: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/About-the-Society/News/Jun-03-2014-Webcast-Living-Your-Best-Life
• CNN - "Human Factor" - will spotlight country music star and Society Ambassador, Julie Roberts. The segment is scheduled to begin airing 8am and noon ET on May 28.  It will be repeated at different times through Sunday June 1 on CNN and HLN as well as on Sanjay Gupta MD, Saturday at 4:30 pm ET and Sunday at 7:30 am ET.  It will also be posted on the web.  To find details on the full air dates and times, go to www.cnn.com and type in "Julie Roberts" in their search engine.
• Developing New Best Practices for Access to a Comprehensive Approach to MS Care – May 28 - May 31, healthcare professionals, academic researchers, commercial therapy developers, and MS advocates will gather in Dallas for the combined meeting of the Consortium of MS Centers and the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in MS.  Here MS experts will focus on new treatments and guidelines for maximizing quality of life for people living with MS.
• Across the USA. – In cities around the world, including in the USA, people affected by MS are leading and participating in events and initiatives designed to create awareness and action focused on access issues for those affected by MS, hosting and attending community events that raise funds to drive MS research, collaborating with legislators to secure lasting changes in public policy, and sharing their stories of life with MS with the public through social media, letters to the editor, and news stories.

About Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system, interrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease.  MS affects more than 2.3 million worldwide.

About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
The Society mobilizes people and resources to drive research for a cure and to address the challenges of everyone affected by MS.  To fulfill this mission, the Society funds cutting-edge research, drives change through advocacy, facilitates professional education, collaborates with MS organizations around the world, and provides programs and services designed to help people with MS and their families move their lives forward.  To move us closer to creating a world free of MS, last year alone, the Society invested nearly $50 million to support more than 380 new and ongoing research projects around the world while providing program services to over one million people.  Join the movement at nationalMSsociety.org.

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SOURCE National Multiple Sclerosis Society