Friends,   

We have some exciting stuff happening this week.  Run Rhonda Run!  Rhonda will be completing her goal of running 3-4 miles per day for 365 consecutive days on her 50th birthday on Thursday morningā€¦while living with MS.  Thatā€™s showing MS whoā€™s boss, isnā€™t it?  Iā€™m so happy for you Rhonda!

Iā€™d encourage anyone who can come and cheer Rhonda on for her celebration birthday run by joining us at Westwood Health and Fitness in Pewaukee.  Our running group will start the run @ 8:00am and finish between 8:45 and 9:00.  Hopefully the weather is nice enough to run outside.  If itā€™s not, weā€™ll be running on the track upstairs.  Hopefully you can come a little early to the indoor triathlon training and congratulate Rhonda.

Speaking of the indoor triathlon (the event that started this group) training, the first day of training is on Thursday as well.  Timing should be about perfect to be able to celebrate with Rhonda and then start training yourself.  This event always gets me excited because we consistently see so many people make great strides during this training period.  Itā€™s exciting and fun!  If youā€™re not signed up yet, you can still sign up.  We have a great lineup so far and still have room for more.  If you have the desire to do it but not sure you can, please know you wonā€™t be alone.  We have some amazing volunteers willing to help you.

Weā€™ll have an ā€œArt Partyā€ on Friday.  The National MS Society is hosting an art program and people from our Wisconsin Chapter of the National MS Society will be joining us Friday with art supplies.  Weā€™ll be starting @ 11:30 and youā€™ll have an opportunity to draw / paint a picture of what beating MS look like to you.  Hereā€™s a description that Joe sent me: ā€œAcross the country, the MS Society Other Special Events team will be organizing Art Parties, where those living with MS can create a painting with the theme ā€œWhat does beating MS look like to you?ā€. The mission is simple: get out in the community and connect with those living with MS through artwork. The completed artwork will be used as templates for future projects such as certificate backgrounds, thank you notecards, silent auction items at events, etc.ā€  I hope youā€™ll join us for this fun!

Hereā€™s a picture from our friends with MS in Colorado who started this program and an example of how it was used.

Sarahā€™s Wok Hard to Fight MS dinner is coming up on February 29th.  This is always a fun and delicious event.  Sarah and her friends and family do an amazing job with this eventā€¦itā€™s a lot of work!  Thanks, Sarah for doing this for all of us living with MS!  Hereā€™s some info from Sarah:

Hi Dan,
Here is the link for information and to register for Wok Hard to Fight MS on February 29th.   The event venue is wheelchair accessible.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wok-hard-to-fight-ms-2020-registration-87360308033

Registration is appreciated so we can determine how much food to buy.
Thanks for passing this along.   It was great seeing you last Friday.  It had been too long :-).

Gratefully,
Sarah

It was nice to have Sarah back last week and see her on her feet again!

We all like to share, right?  Sometimes I feel bad about sharing experiences of getting out and doing things because I know itā€™s reaching a lot of people with MS who canā€™t get out.  I realize how challenging MS can be and understand that.  As I do share some of these experiences, hopefully theyā€™re received as hope and inspiration instead of making someone feel bad that they canā€™t do things they used to.  Keep in mind, there have been many days I couldnā€™t do things like going for a walk either.  I still have them at night.

Anyway, I want to share a couple pictures of being thankful to be able to go out for a walk with Clifford, the big red dog.  It was such a beautiful morning with the fresh snow, I felt it was a blessing to be out there with Clifford.  For all of you who canā€™t get out for a walk, believe me, I was thinking about you the entire walk.  I just thought I would share my experience so you can experience it and enjoy it through me.  Clifford looks pretty happy, doesnā€™t he?

Weā€™ll be getting together again Wednesday @ 11:30 for our prayer group.  Weā€™ll be giving thanks to God for our blessings and praying however God leads us.  Wow!  Iā€™m hearing some powerful comments about this time together.  Prayers are being answered weeklyā€¦thank you God!  Feel free to join us.  If you need to come in a little early to get your exercise in before this starts, feel free to do so.

Iā€™d highly recommend you sign up the MS Bike ride August 1st and 2nd.  You can do that by clicking here.  Once you sign up, thereā€™s a motivational factor that kicks in and helps us get prepared for it.  We want you on our teamā€¦we have fun!

Letā€™s ā€œJust Keep Movingā€.  It doesnā€™t matter where we start.  We can all start with laughing which is great exercise in itself.  Other than that, we start with the body parts that will move and keep moving them as much as we can.  Let them rest and then move them again.

I know there are still many of us going through other life challenges in addition to our challenges with MS.  Letā€™s stick together, keep our chins up and keep sharing our journey.  Better days are ahead.  For those of you who havenā€™t been able to make it by us on Wednesdays and Fridays lately, please know you are missed and in my thoughts and prayers.  I hope youā€™re able to make it back soon!

I hope youā€™ll join us both Wednesday and Friday again this week.   Rememberā€¦consistency is key.  With MS, it takes a lot of consistent effort every day to make small improvements.  Yes, itā€™s frustrating so be patient and consistent and youā€™ll be amazed how your quality of life will continue to improve.  Itā€™s been about 17 years of exercising just about every day for me and Iā€™m still making improvements (encouragement, love, support, nutrition and proper rest help immensely too).  It takes time so please be patient.  It sure is better than MS getting worse.  I really donā€™t know what my life would be like if I didnā€™t do this (nor do I want to find out).  Iā€™m so thankful you are all joining me on this journey of making progress with our MS and quality of lifeā€¦THANK YOU!  Weā€™ll continue to learn togetherā€¦thereā€™s so much power in the love and support we all share with each other.

In the past, Iā€™ve been telling you to bring a friend.  Unfortunately, weā€™re going to need to start a waiting list for new people.  Please feel free to continue to share your experience and what weā€™re doing together.  Let me know of anyone who would like to join us.  Iā€™ll communicate with these people through e-mail or phone and help them any way I can.  When we have room for them to join us, Iā€™ll encourage them to do that.  If youā€™ve joined us in the past, please continue to join us.

We are here to help you and anyone with MSā€¦no strings attached (well maybe an occasional story about the progress youā€™re making, smile, high five or a hug).  I remember how challenging life used to be when my MS was bad.  I get great joy sharing what Iā€™ve learned and feel blessed with the progress Iā€™ve made.  I hope you make progress in some way too!

Place:  W228N791 Westmound Dr.
Waukesha, WI

When:  Wednesday morning from 9:30am ā€“ 12:30pm (open gym concept, come for all or part of it)
Friday morning from 9:30am ā€“ 12:30pm  (open gym concept, come for all or part of it)

Dan Erschen