I'm an MS Activist

It is MS Awareness Week (March 8-14) and a particularly important time for you to Move It! to help secure $15 million for MS research.The deadline for members of Congress to signal support for MS research funding in the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) is fast approaching. Take action...

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March 8-14th is MS Awareness Week. E-mail your U.S. Representative today ask him or her to support a resolution that formally recognizes MS Awareness Week in Congress, H. Res. 1116.The MS Awareness Week resolution was introduced by Representative Barbara Lee (CA-9) and stresses the following important goals of MS Awareness...

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On Wednesday, March 3, hundreds of MS activists from across the country will meet with their federal legislators on Capitol Hill as part of the National MS Society's annual Public Policy Conference. These important visits are an essential component of the Society's year-long and constant mission to advance public policy...

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Over the past two years, MS activists have helped secure nearly $10 million for MS research through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP). The CDMRP is a Department of Defense (DoD) program that is funded annually via the Defense Appropriations Act. Just a couple years ago, there was no...

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By invitation of the White House, the Society's Public Policy Office accompanied four MS Activists to the White House to view the holiday decorations in the East Wing. Attendees included: Doris Matchett and her dog Linus, Yvonne Brown, Karen Jackson, Dana McLeod, and Shawn O'Neail. In addition to seeing historical...

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As a neurologist and Director of the Spinal Cord Injury/Dysfunction Service and the Multiple Sclerosis Center at the St. Louis Veterans Administration Hospital and longtime volunteer with the Gateway Area Chapter of the National MS Society, I am intimately familiar with the realities of living with multiple sclerosis. That is...

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Launching a dramatic expansion of government support for one of the most promising but most contentious fields of biomedical research, the National Institutes of Health on Wednesday [last week] authorized the first 13 lines of cells under the administration's policy and was poised to approve 20 more Friday...The NIH has...

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For the past several years, the National Institutes of Health investment in MS-related research has been declining. You've contacted your legislators many times to ask for increased multiple sclerosis research funding through the NIH.Now you can say thank you.Finally, the research community is being reinvigorated through significant money allocated to...

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You are invited to an online chat with White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett to discuss how health insurance reform will impact minority communities and all Americans.3:30 p.m. EST, Monday, November 2Click here to submit your questions today. Join on Monday at WhiteHouse.gov or at Facebook.com/WhiteHouse....

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Bill Bradbury isn't just running for Oregon governor. He's zipping — on a Segway.Using the personal transporter is one way the Democratic politician deals with the effects of multiple sclerosis. He was diagnosed with the disease 30 years ago, but that hasn't stopped him from becoming one of the most...

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As he approached the elevator doors in town hall, Edison Mayor Jun Choi swung his wheelchair around and backed his way in. From there, he pushed the metal wheels from the tax office to the clerk's desk, out the front door and over to the courtroom and police station.Choi isn't...

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On Tuesday, Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-4) introduced a bill that improves prescription drug coverage, under both public (Medicare Part D) and private plans. The legislation is titled the Affordable Access to Prescription Medications Act of 2009 (H.R. 3799). This is companion legislation to S.1630 that was introduced by Senator Jay...

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It was literally a pain in her neck that started Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy’s (D-Ohio) problems in 2003. Then the pain spread to her shoulder and her arm, and she became more and more worried about what was wrong. “Oh, there were all kinds of theories, and I was one...

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The National Capital Chapter involved MS activists in Walk MS and Bike MS events this year. About a month before the event, hand-written invitations were sent or delivered in person to all federal legislators, state Senators and Congressmen, and D.C. Councilmembers who served the areas in which the Walk MS...

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The Maryland Chapter created picket signs at Walk MS that read I am a MS Activist and created sandwich board signs that read Join the Movement on one side and Sign up today to be a MS Activist on the other side.The Chapter created sign up sheets so people could...

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The U.S. Senate is expected to decide this week on our federal funding request of $15 million for multiple sclerosis research. Click here to remind your Senator to vote for MS research.This new funding stream through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) is important for advancing MS research, especially...

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MS activists from Maryland were invited to attend President Obama's speech last week about health care reform at the Unversity of Maryland in College Park.Watch the White House video here....

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The Greater Delaware Valley Chapter signed up 151 new MS activists at three Walk MS sites in New Jersey. Lakshmi Chiabella signed up 67 people alone at the Moorestown Walk MS. She is now interested in becoming a GRC member.The Chapter sent an email alert to MS activists asking for...

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In April, President Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act which officially recognizes September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. This year, the President, 9/11 families, and service organizations will ask all Americans to remember 9/11 and recommit to service in their communities on that...

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U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse issued a press release yesterday stating ..."A Rhode Island resident who lives with multiple sclerosis and has seen firsthand the problems plaguing our current health insurance system will attend President Barack Obama's address to Congress tomorrow evening as the guest of U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).Christine...

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Individuals living with multiple sclerosis, volunteers, and advocates helped write our MS principles on health care reform more than a year ago. MS activists have since been working to ensure that any reform package must include solutions that benefit people with MS — such as ending discrimination against pre-existing conditions...

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Texas MS activists presented state Representative Rick Hardcastle with an award this week. It recognizes his significant contribution to raising awareness for MS and finding solutions to issues that impact Texans living with the disease.View the video here. According to the KFDX-TV story, Rep. Hardcastle was diagnosed with MS in...

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The Gateway Area Chapter distributed orange buttons at Walk MS this year that said "I Got Active For MS." If someone signed up to be an MS activist and receive action alerts, they got a button. Once a few people were wearing them, people started talking and asking what they...

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ROCKEFELLER PROTECTS AMERICANS FROM HIGH OUT-OF-POCKET SPENDING ON PRESCRIPTION DRUGSIntroduces the Affordable Access to Prescription Medications Act of 2009Washington, D.C.—Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV today [Aug 7] introduced the Affordable Access to Prescription Medications Act of 2009, which will protect all Americans from high out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs,...

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Today national health care reform took a step closer to ensuring access to affordable medicines when Senator John D. Rockefeller IV (WV) introduced the Affordable Access to Prescription Medications Act of 2009. This legislation would cap monthly out-of-pocket costs for medications – including drugs under Medicare Part D as well...

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