News - Lifestyles

Thursday, Sep. 25, 2008

Riding with a purpose

Wife's multiple sclerosis diagnosis spurs man to annually tackle two-day bike tour

Saturday morning, bright and early, I'll climb on to my 10-year-old GT Force road bicycle and ride 105 miles of South Carolina backroads to Greenville for the Bike MS ride. It is a ride I look forward to every year, yet one I wish I didn't have to make.

The ride is the first leg of a two-day, 175-mile bicycle tour to raise money and awareness for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. I expect to roll into our destination, Flour Field in downtown Greenville, after a little less than seven hours in the saddle.

This will be my fourth consecutive year riding the Bike MS. The routes and destinations have changed, but the mission remains the same -- finding a cure for MS.

My wife of seven years, Candace, was diagnosed with MS in 2002.

MS has no cure, although countless studies have been done and are ongoing to find a one. MS is a chronic, unpredictable neurological disease that affects the central nervous system.

The society puts on events like the Bike MS all over the country. Saturday's ride benefits the Mid-Atlantic chapter, which includes all of South Carolina and Western North Carolina. The society folks tell me there are more than 6,000 people within the chapter who have MS.

We learned pretty quickly of some of the people in York County who have MS. We felt bad we didn't know, but at the same time encouraged they are leading normal lives.

Last year, more than 1,600 cyclists from 25 states raised $1.35 million to bring awareness to the community and raise funds for programs and services for people with MS in our area, according to the society's Web site.

Officials anticipate around 700 riders will leave from the Winthrop Coliseum parking lot at 7 a.m. Saturday for the 105-mile route. Others will follow a rally course of 75 or 35 miles that start and finish in Greenville.

The ride is not a race. I am not built for speed.

There will be many hard-core cyclists who will ride. They are the 145-pound men, or the just-a-tad-over-100-pound women, who look good in the tight cycling shorts and jerseys. They will finish the ride, eat, shower and change clothes. By the time I limp in, they will be sitting in a lawn chair working on their second beer at Flour Field.

I have put in about 1,200 miles this year to train for the ride, down from 1,700 last year. I am the rider who wears the same cycling attire as the hard-core guys, but the Lycra fabric stretches a lot more. I make my bike say "ouch!" when I ride over a bump or through a pothole.

But I ride with a purpose.

The ride enables me to feel I am part of finding a cure for my wife. Oddly, MS has brought us closer.

Candace went to an opthamologist on and off for about a year, complaining of a vision problem. She thought that maybe she needed glasses. In the fall of 2002, the eye doctor sent her to a retinal surgeon to see if she had a retinal tear.

I went to the retinal surgeon with Candace for some reason. He wanted Candace go to a neurologist to rule out some things and walked back to his office to make the appointment for her. We both knew that something was up when the doctor returned and told us where the neurologist's office was -- and that he was waiting for us.

An MRI revealed lesions in Candace's brain. An MS doctor diagnosed her with the condition.

Candace is a physical therapist assistant with Interim Healthcare here in Rock Hill. Being in the medical field, she had an inkling what her symptoms were pointing toward. Still, the diagnosis was a shock.

MS affects people in many different ways and can present itself in various manners. In Candace's case, MS presented as optic neuritis. Other symptoms include fatigue, numbness, walking/coordination problems, bladder/bowel dysfunction, vision problems, dizziness and vertigo, sexual dysfunction, pain, cognitive dysfunction, emotional changes, depression and spasticity.

Candace has what is known as relapsing-remitting MS. Her symptoms range from bothersome numbness in her lower left leg and foot to severe fatigue and vision problems.