Lee Anne is the love of my life and the kindest, most giving person I know. She is also a great musician. I am her biggest fan!
Lee Anne was a child prodigy. By age 14, she was an accomplished classical guitarist, playing and singing before audiences of thousands.
Years before we met, I sat in those audiences, amazed that anyone so young could play and sing so well.
We met in college and were married two weeks after I graduated.
In our first year of marriage, Lee Anne experienced numbness in her face, hands, legs, and feet. At that time, the numbness seriously affected her ability to play guitar. I recall her senior recital: Lee Anne struggled with complex classical guitar pieces she could normally play perfectly.
The year was 1979, and neurologists could not tell us what was wrong. Ten years later, with the invention of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) we learned that Lee Anne had Multiple Sclerosis.
Through new drug therapy, Lee Anne is now free from the numbness that once stopped her from playing guitar.
Her music is a gift I will guard at all costs.
For me, the fight against Multiple Sclerosisis personal. My weapon of choice is a bicycle! From October 3-17, 2009, I will once again attempt the Tour de Kentucky, across this beautiful state, also riding in each of the seven states which touch Kentucky.
In 2009 through this extreme cycling event, I hope to raise $20,000 for the care of and cure for those who struggle with MS.
Without warning, MS strikes people from all walks of life, afflicting those we know and love with blindness, paralysis, fatigue, and many other symptoms; sometimes even death.
Most of us are fotunate not to be afflicted with Multiple Sclerosis, but in the United States alone, 400,000 suffer with MS. Every week about 200 are diagnosed with MS.
Medical research is close to discovering the cause of MS, and new drugs are helping many MS victims live richer, more pain-free lives.
Until the cause and cure are found, I will continue to ride for Lee Anne.
I intend to see the cure for MS in my lifetime!
Those of us who fight behind the scenes will never be famous for discovering the cure, but we will share in the legacy of a world free of Multiple Sclerosis forever!
Through your generous tax-deductible contributions to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, you make both the present and the future brighter for those in our communities who live with MS.
Donations to the MS Society are used to sponsor ongoing medical reasearch and to support those who struggle with MS.
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