MS Challenge Walk is a dynamic community that draws people from around the world — yet it is a community that, like multiple sclerosis, is largely unseen. As we go about our day-to-day lives, our friends, family, and neighbors can't see what it is that drives us to walk 50 miles. Many people may not know what MS is, or that there is an event dedicated to seeing it end.

Volunteer Dan Young, who each year donates his photography skills to MS Challenge Walk, recently took an extra step to increasing awareness of MS by recruiting his employer to the cause: Access Nashua, a public access television station in Nashua, New Hampshire. Host Denise-Marie McIntosh invited four participants of MS Challenge Walk — Kevin Lombardi, James Derick, Marisa Bonanno, and me — onto her talk segment, Fairy Tale Access. We discussed how MS works, how it has affected our lives, what we do about it, and how viewers can help.

The show is scheduled to air during MS Awareness Week, March 11–17, on television stations around New England as well as YouTube. Watch for it next month on this blog, and in the meantime, enjoy this behind-the-scenes sneak preview!

Ken 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 an alumnus of the event's steering committee and is this site's webmaster.