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Raising
Money and Awareness For
MS
From September 7 to October 7, Kenny
Wingfield, member of the Society's Blue
Ridge Chapter and a “face” on
faceofms.org, will be cycling 2,000 miles,
from International Falls, MN to New
Orleans, Louisiana, where he will join the
Louisiana Chapter for their MS 150 Tour
for Cure and in support of the Louisiana
Chapter as they continue to rebuild
following last year's hurricanes.
Kenny's goal is to raise money and
awareness for MS, a disease he was
diagnosed with in 1991. Ironically, his
first symptoms actually began while he was
training for his local MS 150 Bike
Tour.
Even before his MS diagnosis, Kenny
was an unlikely candidate to be a
long-distance cyclist. A result of
contracting polio from a booster shot in
sixth grade, Kenny had surgery resulting
in severely atrophied muscles in one leg,
and eventually the need for a hip
replacement and the amputation of two
toes.
Years later, around the same time as
his MS diagnosis, Kenny was diagnosed with
neurofibromatosis, benign tumors that
formed along his central nervous system.
This required surgery leaving him deaf in
his left ear and with no inner ear on that
side. The removal of his inner ear greatly
affected his balance, something integral
to being a cyclist.
Despite these obstacles, Kenny
continues to ride. And not just a few
miles…Since he was diagnosed he's
ridden in 20 MS 150 Bike Tours and since
his hip replacement in October he has
cycled 5,000 miles!
Nothing seems to get Kenny down.
“I know I am fortunate and blessed to
be able to continue with these activities
given the nature of each of these
diseases, particularly MS, but I will
forever pursue the dream to see the end of
this devastating disease. A cure won't
have much effect on the course of my
symptoms but knowing that we have made a
difference will make me be able to sit
back and smile at the end of the day. Life
is good.”
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