Sarah Jacoby is very open about her multiple sclerosis—but when it comes to her blisters, she hides them like a teenager with a pimple on prom night.
Sarah Jacoby of South Hero, Vermont, is very open about her multiple sclerosis — but when it comes to her blisters, she hides them like a teenager with a pimple on prom night.
"I don't show them to the medical team because I'm afraid they'll tell me I can't walk!" exclaimed Jacoby.
By walk, she means taking part in the three-day, 50-mile Walk MS: Cape Cod Challenge.
"You gotta be a little crazy to do this to yourself, but it's worth it!"
Despite having MS, an often times disabling disease, and pushing 70 years old, Jacoby has walked the Cape Cod Challenge every year since its inception in 2002. That first year, she walked as an individual, but over the years her family and friends have joined her.
"I had family members that came down [to the Cape] to watch everybody walk in [to the finish] and they got hooked with that," she said.
Now, her team, MS Action Heroes, is 15 members strong and includes Sarah's grand-niece and grand-nephew. Also joining her is her friend Bonnie, who also lives with MS. The team has raised a total of nearly $80,000 to fund research and services for people with MS, like Sarah.
"I think the big thing [for me] is raising money for the research. I think that's so important. There are so many people worse off than I am with it, so I hope someday we find a cure."
This September 5–7, Sarah and her team will join hundreds of other people in Walk MS: Cape Cod Challenge Walk 2014, sponsored by EMD Serono/Pfizer. It begins and ends in Hyannis. Learn more about Challenge or to make a donation online.
Sarah will be a featured speaker at the program Saturday night (Sep 6) that accompanies a Candlelight Vigil for Hope with people with MS.
Sarah admits she's a bit behind in her training this year because she spent 11 days in the hospital this spring with a problem with her appendix, but she's fought through monster blisters —so a little surgery won't keep her from taking on the Challenge.
