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You’d never know that Susan Strachan battles chronic fatigue and blindness in one eye as a result of multiple sclerosis, or MS. The 44-year-old Weston resident is constantly on the go, running the nonprofit organization she founded to raise money for MS research at Partners and planning every last detail of fundraisers like tonight’s “Some Like it HOT” party in Palm Beach.
“When people ask why I started MS Cure Fund, my reply is always ‘Why not?’,” said Strachan, who founded MS Cure Fund in 2004 to raise money for the research conducted by Partners MS Center Director Howard Weiner, MD, of whom she has been a patient for more than eight years. “I am blessed in so many ways as one of the relatively healthy MS patients, and I need to do this for those who aren’t so fortunate.”
MS, a chronic demyelization and often disabling disease of the central nervous system, causes unpredictable symptoms ranging from severe disability including numbness, inability to walk, impaired vision, cognitive dysnfunction and extreme fatigue to total paralysis or blindness. The disease affects nearly 500,000 people in the U.S. and more than two million worldwide. MS is twice as common in women than in men.
Strachan’s goal with MS Cure Fund is to create awareness of the disease, conduct educational programs and seminars and raise much needed funds for research. As founder and director, she works full-time with other MS patients making a positive difference through this collaboration. In December, they presented a $25,000 gift to Weiner for his research.
“Susan is a remarkable person and an inspiration to us all,” said Weiner. “The funds raised by her MS Cure Fund are moving us closer to the day that we have a cure for MS.”
The events that MS Cure Fund plans range from networking seminars to golf and fishing tournaments to social galas, like tonight’s “Some Like it HOT” party, featuring hot pink cocktails and Caribbean steel band music in Palm Beach.
Through funds raised, Strachan and her team hope to raise $1 million for MS research by 2010. Keep a look out for MBTA busses carrying their message during March. For more information on MS Cure Fund, visit www.MSCureFund.org