Challenge Walk

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General information about the walk itself.

 

When sitting on the sidelines is not an option

Written by on May 6, 2013 at 12:22 pm

I recently made an unexpected decision to register for this year's MS Challenge Walk, 3-day, 50-mile option on Cape Cod. I say "unexpected" because I anticipated the Cape MS Challenge Walk I proudly completed in 2003 to be a once-in-a-lifetime event. That changed late last year after receiving continuing news that too many of the volunteers activists I have worked with closely were experiencing a changing, progressive course in their disease. Some with primary and secondary progressive MS were now facing other significant underlying health challenges.

Sarah, an extraordinary chapter volunteer and MS activist, inspired my decision to walk this year. Sarah has completed the chapter's MS Challenge Walk every year since its inception with a team of family and friends. Having supported Sarah, I knew I could not simply cheer her on or donate this time. Sitting on the sidelines is not an option for me this year. I do not have MS, and I can walk without difficulty — yet I do not take this for granted. The totality of the impact of primary and secondary progressive MS is both professional and at times unexpectedly personal.

As an MS activist, I know meaningful strides made collectively improve people's lives, one step at a time. MS Challenge walkers are truly activists, too. Advancing public policies that address gaps in community supports and removing barriers to health care for those with more progressed forms of MS is critical. Funding for biomedical research and daily support is just as vital and additional funding is needed. All of us collectively are contributing toward this goal. While a treatment or medication for primary progressive MS remains elusive, the progress in recent years is very encouraging. I want in some small way to expedite this process and provide additional support to individuals facing progressed MS.

I am honored to join the Sarah's Sponsors team which includes Abby & Jamie — two MS colleague activists! My personal focus and motivation is progressive MS and the individuals who inspire me facing the challenges of disease progression.

I thank everyone for their commitment to this event and I hope I have the opportunity to meet many of you along the route in September!

Michelle has been a staff member for the Greater New England Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society since 2000. She currently serves as the Director of Public Policy Advocacy and works with volunteer activists and lawmakers in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. She most recently lead the chapter's delegation at the 22nd annual MS Public Policy Conference in Washington D.C.

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I'd like to introduce myself…

Written by on March 1, 2013 at 10:42 am

Hello! It is a pleasure to reach out to you today as your new MS Challenge Walk Manager and contact. I have just started to work at the Greater New England Chapter for the National MS Society and am excited to join the Challenge!

I have just moved to the Boston area from Philadelphia, where I was born and raised. In Philadelphia, for the past three years I was working at a homeless youth shelter called Covenant House, where I was in charge of all of their special events and fundraisers. Before that I interned at the National MS Society in the Greater Delaware Valley Chapter and am very familiar with all the amazing work that the NMSS achieves each year. I've loved Boston for many years and am excited to finally be living in such a great city and greater community!

I am grateful to be back at the National MS Society and I look forward to meeting you all. Please be on the lookout for future blogs from me with updates about the MS Challenge Walk, fundraising and training tips and other Chapter news.

I would love to hear from you about your past experiences with the MS Challenge Walk and if you have any questions for the upcoming one this year! You can e-mail me at [email protected] or call me directly at: 781-693-5102.

Let's keep making strides together!

Aileen is the Development Manager for the Greater New England Chapter of the National MS Society responsible for the 2013 Challenge Walk. She has interned with the National MS Society at the Greater Delaware Valley Chapter with Program Events and is looking forward to working closely with the Steering Committee and Challenge Walk Teams to make this year's MS Challenge Walk a memorable one!

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We want to hear from you!

Written by on September 25, 2012 at 2:23 pm

As we start our planning for the 2013 event, we are eager to hear your comments about MS Challenge Walk 2012. Please take a moment to complete the online survey.  Thank you for your feedback.

Once again, thank you so much for walking at the MS Challenge Walk.  You should feel proud that your every step helped give hope to the 19,000 individuals with MS and their families in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Congratulations

Congratulations to our top fundraisers!

Top Five Individual Fundraisers Top Five Fundraising Teams
Tom Olafsson $14,654 The Lombardi Party $59,501
Sue Carrai $13,220 Blister Buddies $38,452
Kevin Lombardi $12,430 Team Brian $38,311
Stephen Urquhart $10,975 Chili Head Striders $27,863
Nicholas D'Alleva $10,150 Team DEA and friends $25,360

If you have not yet reached your $1,500 raised, please keep up the fundraising to help us reach our goal of over 1 million raised by the MS Challenge Walk Cape Cod 2012. The last date to submit donations for the 2012 event is October 7.

Are there friends and family members who have promised to donate but have yet to do so?  We encourage you to send them and email or letter reminding them of their pledge.  We need all Challenge Walkers to reach their fundraising goals so that together we can all continue to create a world free of MS.  If you are having troubles reaching your goal, please do not hesitate to contact the MS Challenge Walk Team and we can work together to find the best fundraising methods for you.

We look forward to seeing you September 6–8 at the 2013 MS Challenge Walk!

All the best,

Danielle Kempe
Manager
MS Challenge Walk Cape Cod

Danielle was a Development Manager for the Greater New England Chapter of the National MS Society, managing MS Challenge Walk 2011 and 2012. Prior to joining the staff of the National MS Society, Danielle served as a crew team captain during the 2009 and 2010 MS Challenge Walks.

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MS Challenge Walk Cape Cod 2013 dates

Written by on September 18, 2012 at 9:00 am

Dear MS Challenge Walk Participants,

In celebration of the Rosh Hashanah holiday, which coincides with the 2013 MS Challenge Walk, the Greater New England Chapter is adjusting the route to offer both a two days and 50 kilometers option, Saturday and Sunday, September 7 and 8, and a three-day option, starting Friday morning, September 6, from the Hyannis Village Green, with a Thursday evening early check-in reception at the Cape Codder Hotel.

We will have two starting ceremonies, one on Friday, September 6 and one on Saturday, September 8.

Rosh Hashanah, the first of the Jewish High Holidays, begins at sundown on Wednesday, September 4, 2013, and ends at sundown, Friday, Sept. 6.

Early arrivals will be received at the Cape Cod Sea Camps Friday evening, Sept. 6. The formal start will take place at the Sea Camps, Saturday morning.

We are very pleased that this temporary change allows the MS Challenge Walk to take place the first weekend after Labor Day, which has been its routine position on the calendar.

The fundraising minimum for the MS Challenge Walk remains $1,500, and participants will continue to receive the support they need to reach their fundraising goal.

A detailed schedule will be published in the Challenge Guide well in advance of September 2013.

We hope you will join us again for the 2013 MS Challenge Walk, September 7 and 8.

This change in distance and days is only for the 2013 season. We look forward to returning to the three-day format in 2014.

Thank you for your understanding of this important change. See you on the Cape in 2013 for a spectacular MS Challenge Walk!

MS Challenge Walk Staff
Greater New England Chapter,
National MS Society

Lori is the Executive Vice President of Resource Development for the Greater New England Chapter of the National MS Society. She has been with the Society for over 10 years. MS Challenge Walk holds a special place in her heart, and every year, it inspires her to continue her work on behalf of the 19,000 people with MS and their families the chapter supports.

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Notes of support from the trail

Written by on September 13, 2012 at 3:56 pm

In the eight years I've participated in MS Challenge Walk, I've made plenty of connections. From friends and family who support my training and fundraising, to the steering committee that tolerates my off-the-wall ideas, to the walkers and crew who cheer each other on, the relationships formed around this three-day weekend are ones that I cherish year-round.

This year, not only did I receive notes of encouragement before the walk, but I had more letters waiting for me even after I arrived on the Cape. A former formal member of Gordon's Team and now an honorary one, I arrived at their annual pre-walk homestead to find a sealed message waiting for me. It came from one of the team's youngest members, Emma, who this year made the transition from crew to walker. Here's what she wrote:

Letter from Emma

A transcript follows:

Dear Ken,

Excited for another year? I know I am. I just want to say how glad I am that you decided to be a part of this. It has shown me how pure determination and hope can form amazing friendships. No matter what team you are listed under officially, there will always be a spot for you on Gordon's Team, and we will always claim you as one of us. So thank you for everything you have brought to our team. Thanks for a smile along the route (which I'm sure I will need this year), that trolley ride (it is in my top walk memories), and a friendship the whole family holds dear.

Smiles,
Emma

What a wonderful way to start the walk! How could I not be eager to get out there and support this family, without whom I never would've heard about or joined MS Challenge Walk?

That wasn't the last note of support I'd find that weekend. A friend who spent her Labor Day weekend on Cape Cod knew I'd soon be following in her footsteps, so she stopped by Nickerson State Park — better known to us as Day 2, Rest Stop #1. There, she engaged in a bit of letterboxing, a distant cousin of geocaching. At a specific place in the park, she left me a message, one I could find only by following these clues:

This is a "drive-by", "walk-by" or "bicycle-by" letterbox with one caveat. It is located right off Flax Pond Rd, and this road is very busy with cars coming to and from one of the park boat ramps. If traveling by car, it would be best to enter the Area 5 campground, and park near the Restrooms. [Proceed] down Flax Pond Rd until you see a large glacial erratic on your right. Approach on foot, and look into the "jaws" of the boulder. The Nickerson State Park Letterbox is hidden inside.

Near the end of the walk's first day, where I found Pocahontas handing out hugs to walkers just 0.42 miles from the Cape Cod Sea Camps, I abandoned my post and took a detour off our prescribed route to follow the above instructions. I wasn't far into the park when I found the boulder in question.

A large boulder in Nickerson State Park

I dismounted my bicycle, climbed into the "jaws", reached my hand in… and came out with this!

Letter from Cara

My thanks to Cara and her fiddler crab for taking the time and effort to support me and all our walkers! And to everyone else who let their humanity shine this challenging weekend. Before, during, or after, be it a hug, a tweet, or these letters, there's no limit to the support to be found at MS Challenge Walk.

Ken, a Framingham resident, joined the MS Challenge Walk in 2005, more than a decade after his mother was diagnosed. After walking for three years and 150 miles, he switched to the support crew and now rides his bicycle along the trail, providing whatever encouragement (and snacks!) he can to the 600 walkers. He is also on the event's steering committee and is this site's webmaster.

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A heartfelt thanks for all those who DO!

Written by on September 12, 2012 at 2:53 pm

Participants in the past several years of MS Challenge Walk have borne witness to a most incredible and inspiring individual: Carolyn Rossi, who wheels herself up, down, and across Cape Cod in pursuit of a cure for multiple sclerosis. I spoke with Carolyn last week in an interview that introduced many walkers to a person whose drive and determination are nearly unparalleled.

But it's not just her fellow walkers who Carolyn inspires. Her husband, Brian, is on the bicycle support crew, and two years ago shared with us how he marvels at his wife's strength. This year, he has these thoughts about the importance his fellow crew play not just to the walk as a whole, but to the intensely personal experience that is his and Carolyn's MS Challenge Walk. Here is Brian in his own words.

The MS Challenge Walk is one of those annual events that occur when, regardless of anything else going on in our lives or around us, we can come together as one united family to fight for a great cause! Year after year, people make the trek to the Cape and lace up their shoes, pump up their tires, purchase ample amounts of Body Glide products, and tough it out for three long hard days. We arrive on Thursday evenings and for the next hour or more, we embrace and do lots of catching up with our "family" members that we haven't seen in about a year. It is truly awesome!

I'd like to personally thank each and every person and team that participates in this event. I'd like to especially thank all of the unsung heroes of the MS Walk that work behind the scenes or do something as simple as handing out candy, bananas, granola bars, water, gatorade, etc at the many rest stops. If any one of these important people were missing, the event just would not be the same.

I'd like to extend a special thanks to my fellow bike crew members. First, thank you for welcoming me in to the fold year after year. Most important, thank you from the bottom of my heart for being the silent and for some, not so silent guardians to my love, Carolyn Rossi. Each year, one or more of you ease my worries about her whereabouts by making a friendly cell phone call to give me here current location. This year, Todd called me on Saturday to let me know that she was ready for lunch, and if I didn't get there soon with her lunch, she'd "rip my head off!" When I arrived at the welcome center leading up to the lunch stop, he was right there with her keeping her safe.

Carolyn Rossi on Setucket Hill (2012)

Rob L. personally had the honor of escorting her up Setucket Rd (Hill) this year as she took on a challenge like none other before. This year she challenged herself to walk up as much of that hill as she could and Rob was by her side each step of the way keeping her safe. In years past, Billy has been by her side keeping her safe and challenging her to push even further. To the other bike crew members who have assisted Carolyn this year and in years past, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for protecting her and being her guardians on bikes. This year, I even saw Dave personally escorting her down the streets of Brewster with his white motorcycle with the trailer attached. Thank you all so much for selflessly giving of your time and attention and for loving Carolyn!

I don't know if many people can understand this or not, but being Carolyn's husband is a tough place to be on the Walk weekend. For me, the walk is solely about Carolyn and her successes and milestones. I try to stay in the background as much as I can. It's not about me! However, nothing blesses me more as her husband than to hear from all of the folks along the route that speak with me privately about how much she inspires them. When I roll in to rest stops on my bike and people see me, they ask, "How is that lovely wife of yours doing" or "Is Carolyn on her way"? This is so moving to witness year after year.

Many of the friends I have made at the MS Challenge Walk have shared with me that seeing Carolyn push herself every year, as difficult as it is, is the high point of their year. I have to agree with that sentiment!!

As awesome as this event is, as much as I love all of you, my true heart's desire is that we didn't have to do this anymore! I'm personally SICK OF IT!!!! Multiple sclerosis took the life of my grandmother — my best friend, someone whom I deeply loved. Today it continues its pesky mission in my wife's life, someone whom I love even more. I see and hear about all of the other "MS Walk Family" members of mine who have been afflicted by it, and it just makes my heart SICK!

So, let's face it folks: the reality is that MS is still around — for now. It's time for people to stop saying and to start doing! It's still attacking people we love! Let's work together in 2013 to bond together AS ONE TEAM to create a world FREE OF MS! Who's with me?

Brian, a resident of Central Massachusetts, has participated for several years in the MS Challenge Walk as a member of the bike support crew.  Not only does his wife Carolyn have MS, but his grandmother had MS and eventually died from complications related to it. Brian is best known to as the provider of tropical flavored Starbursts and Jolly Rancher candies along the trail.

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MS Challenge Walk 2012's tweets

Written by on September 10, 2012 at 9:24 am

Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's MS Challenge Walk! Over 550 walkers and 200 crew collaborated to bring us three days, fifty miles, and $1 million toward a world free from multiple sclerosis. What a team!!

We couldn't have done it without the larger support network of friends, families, and co-workers who cheered us on physically, emotionally, and financially. We gave advocates a blow-by-blow report from the route courtesy the microblogging site Twitter. Jennifer Rebecca Yates assumed control of the account, issuing 58 "tweets" over the course of the weekend (40% more than last year!). For the first time ever, these tweets included photos from the trail and were also streamed to our Facebook page, opening the event to an even wider audience.

We'll now resume our usual Twitter schedule, but for posterity (or for those of you who missed it), here are Jen's tweets, presented in chronological order. Watch this blog in the weeks to come as we publish more media, including audio, video, and photos!

Click to continue »

Ken, a Framingham resident, joined the MS Challenge Walk in 2005, more than a decade after his mother was diagnosed. After walking for three years and 150 miles, he switched to the support crew and now rides his bicycle along the trail, providing whatever encouragement (and snacks!) he can to the 600 walkers. He is also on the event's steering committee and is this site's webmaster.

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