“There is still no cure, but at least now, thanks to these fundraising events, there are advancements in patient care, and there is hope.”
- Multiple sclerosis (MS) patient Judy

It may be winter now, but plans for next year’s disease-related fundraising events are underway.  The question is:  will you be taking part?

For inspiration, see Judy and Jim below in their bright blue PatientsLikeMeMe t-shirts before the start of Walk MS in Cranford, NJ, on April 15, 2012.  “When I was first diagnosed over 20 years ago, there were no therapies for MS patients and knowledge was limited,” says Judy.  “We’re grateful to PatientsLikeMe for their continued support for events that raise awareness and funds for MS research.”  She adds that the Cranford Walk MS event had “a large and enthusiastic turnout.”

Congrats to Judy and all of our PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored teams for your efforts. For more PatientsLikeMeInMotion team photos, check out our growing Flickr collection. Thinking about organizing a team for next spring? Learn how the PatientsLikeMeInMotion program can help with t-shirts and a monetary donation.

As we get deeper into summer, there are disease-related walk/run events happening almost every weekend.  What they all share is an opportunity for patients, friends and family to come together in solidarity and raise money for research and patient services.

For inspiration, please meet multiple sclerosis (MS) patient barneyhouse and her “Walking Warriors,” who took part in a recent Walk MS event in Ormond Springs, Florida.  By signing up for our PatientsLikeMeInMotion program, the team was able to score bright blue PatientsLikeMe t-shirts and a monetary donation towards their fundraising goal. “My sister, who is six years older, has had MS for over 30 years,” writes barneyhouse.  “So although this is new for me, it is not new to me.”

Congrats to the Walking Warriors team as well as all of our PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored groups for your efforts to raise funds and awareness for your condition. We’re honored to support you in your journey.  For more PatientsLikeMeInMotion team photos, check out our growing Flickr collection.

Thinking about organizing a team for this summer or fall?  Learn more about the PatientsLikeMeInMotion program today.

The weather is warming up, and calendars are filling up.  That means it’s time to starting thinking about spring walk/run events for your health condition!

For inspiration, please meet multiple sclerosis patient NewLife (center), who led a PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored team at Walk MS in St. Louis, Missouri.  Including a monetary donation from PatientsLikeMe, NewLife and her team raised $2,000 for MS research.  The group also shared a delightful day together.  NewLife says, “I was very touched by the support of my friends walking with me.  It truly meant a lot.”

Congrats to NewLife and all of our PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored teams for your efforts to raise funds and awareness for your condition. We’re honored to support you every step of the way.  For more PatientsLikeMeInMotion team photos, check out our Flickr album.

Thinking about organizing a team for this spring or summer? Learn more about the PatientsLikeMeInMotion program today.

Please meet the youngest supporters of MS member Not Awake, who led a PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored team at a Walk MS event in Springfield, Missouri, this spring. Although our bright blue t-shirts are offered in adult sizes only, you’ll see that this young fellow was able to wear a creatively adapted version nonetheless.

Sometimes you have to hog the spotlight to bring attention to your condition – in this case, multiple sclerosis. Please meet PatientsLikeMeInMotion team leader Pjohns, who was supported by family and friends as well as “Hammy Hog,” the mascot of the Rockford Icehogs hockey team, at a 2011 Walk MS event in Northwest Illinois.

Congrats to Pjohns and all of our PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored teams for your efforts to raise funds and awareness for your condition. We’re honored to support you every step of the way.  For more PatientsLikeMeInMotion team photos, check out our new Flickr slideshow.

Organizing a team for this fall?  Sign up for PatientsLikeMeInMotion today.

A multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis affects the whole family, which is why it can be great to get the whole family involved in awareness activities. Please meet PatientsLikeMeInMotion team leader PepsiGirl, who was supported by several family members at a 2011 Walk MS event in her home state of New York.

Congrats to PepsiGirl and all of our PatientsLikeMeInMotion-sponsored teams for your efforts to raise funds and awareness for your condition. We’re honored to support you every step of the way.  For more PatientsLikeMeInMotion team photos, check out our new Flickr slideshow.

Organizing a team for this fall?  Sign up for PatientsLikeMeInMotion today

Every year, PatientsLikeMe sponsors run/walk/bike teams around the country through PatientsLikeMeInMotion.

Led by a three-star member – someone with a complete health profile at PatientsLikeMe – each team receives bright blue PatientsLikeMe t-shirts, business cards and a donation towards their fundraising goal. Some of the events our members participate in include the Parkinson’s Unity Walk, the National Walk for Epilepsy (Epilepsy Foundation), the Walk to Defeat ALS (ALS Association) and Walk MS (National MS Society).

What’s happening this year?  2011 is off to a great start with 30 sponsored teams as of the end of June.  When you compare that to two years ago – when we sponsored around 40 teams for all of 2009 – you can see how the PatientsLikeMeInMotion program has grown.  Wondering whether any of these spring teams were raising awareness for your condition(s)?  Here’s the list of conditions represented for 2011 thus far:

• MS
• ALS
• Parkinson’s
• Cancer
• Epilepsy
• Autism
• Prader-Willi Syndrome
• Mental Health

We’re thrilled to support our members in this way, and we especially love seeing the positive connections that are forged when our members meet “offline” at these uplifting events.  That’s why we’ve asked PatientsLikeMeInMotion team members to submit their favorite photos from recent events.  Check out our Spring 2011 PatientsLikeMeInMotion Flickr Slideshow to see the enthusiasm firsthand:

We’ve also gotten some wonderful messages from team leaders this year that illustrate the impact of the program:

• “Thanks so much for everything, I can’t wait to give the team their shirts and wear them with pride.  You all are awesome.”

• “Thank you for sponsoring me in Walk MS! I am so grateful for your support, which brings me one step closer to achieving my fundraising goal. More importantly, it brings us one step closer toward a world free of multiple sclerosis.”

• “Our team enjoyed the t-shirts and stood out in the crowd in the bright turquoise. We also enjoyed answering questions from those who asked about the t-shirts and the website, about which we gladly shared information!”

Organizing a run/walk/bike team for late summer or fall? Sign your team up for PatientsLikeMeInMotion sponsorship today. (Please allow 3-4 weeks lead time.)

Ever wonder what your fellow members were up to on their sponsored walks and runs in various states across the country? Last week, PatientsLikeMe launched a Flickr page for the PatientsLikeMeInMotion^TM program. Now you can see photos of members just like you in motion!   We are excited to share the experience of sponsored teams and three-star members with everyone.

Since its inception in 2009, PatientsLikeMeInMotion^TM has sponsored more than 115 teams across seven disease communities.  With over 2, 100 participants to date, the program has given many members the chance to demonstrate their PatientsLikeMe spirit as well as connect with others who have shared similar experiences.

It’s always great to see how PatientsLikeMe members are just as passionate offline as they are online.  Now, everyone can catch a glimpse our members in action from New York to Ohio to California!  The PatientsLikeMeInMotion^TM Flickr page currently hosts photos from walks in the ALS, MS, Parkinson’s, Transplants, Fibromyalgia and Mood communities…with more to come.  We are proud to feature events such as The National MS Society‘s “Walk MS” series, ALS Association’s “Walk to Defeat ALS” series, Parkinson’s Unity Walk, and events run by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (just to name a few). Have photos you would like to submit? We would love to see them.  Email us.

Thank you to all the members who have contributed their time and photos to PatientsLikeMeInMotion^TM. You continue to inspire others.  And thanks to all the members of the PatientsLikeMe community for continuing to share.

Just on the heels of MS Awareness Month, here’s one more interview with one of PatientsLikeMe’s nonprofit partners.  For this interview, Molly Cotter, who handles Nonprofit Partnership Development at PatientsLikeMe, sits down with National MS Society of Greater New England’s Development Director Todd Krohne to discuss exciting things happening with his chapter, including their new “We Keep Moving” campaign.  The NMSS of Greater New England is helping spread the word about our site and the PatientsLikeMeInMotion^TM program and we are happy to report that six of our 3-star patient members (to date) will have teams sponsored by PatientsLikeMe at MS Walks in the New England region this Spring.

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	(Molly) During MS Awareness Week last month, NMSS launched its “We Keep Moving” campaign to “catapult our movement toward a world free of MS.”  What’s that campaign all about and why is it important for patients?
	(Todd) Living with multiple sclerosis is a challenge, no matter where you are. Imagine what it’s like living with MS in an urban high rise — or in rural America where the closest MS specialist is 250 miles away, by bus. “We Keep Moving” is a website that will chronicle a ten week journey across the country. Unique stories and perspectives — challenges, triumphs and everything in between — will be shared. Submit your story and share in the journey as we learn about how people keep their lives moving forward. Go to www.wekeepmoving.org. This initiative is supported in part by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Greater New England Chapter member, Anna from Shrewsbury, is a finalist this week in the “We Keep Moving” video contest, and she needs your vote to have her story produced on video!  Read more about her story and vote for Anna here.
	(Molly) In 2008, PatientsLikeMe sponsored the MS Challenge Walk in Cape Cod, MA. What a great event!  This year, the NMSS of Greater New England has helped us spread the word about PatientsLikeMe and our pilot PatientsLikeMeInMotionTM program.  What excites you most about this new program?
	(Todd) PatientsLikeMeInMotionTM is a fantastic way to motivate people to take action and to generate resources, both financial and human, to fund research into prevention, treatment, and cure of diseases like multiple sclerosis, and to help people whose disease has hurt them financially. Throughout history, the fight against disease has been fueled by individuals raising money for basic science research to unlock the mysteries of a disease and produce clues for curing it. PatientsLikeMeInMotionTM is another channel to communicate with people and help them understand that if they don’t take action to move forward, no one else will.
	(Molly) As we wrap up MS Awareness Month, any exciting things happening at NMSS of Greater New England for patients – e.g., research, events, online campaigns?
	(Todd) We’re very excited to announce that as of March 1, 2010, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont joined forces to become the ‘Greater New England Chapter’, serving a combined total of 19,000 individuals and families affected by multiple sclerosis.By consolidating administrative functions and by combining the talents of our Boards of Trustees, staff, and volunteers, we can streamline operations, increase fundraising effectiveness, and expand programs, services, and advocacy for those affected by MS.Of course, Walk MS and Bike MS and the MS Challenge Walk are very exciting ways to join the movement to create a world free of multiple sclerosis.  These fundraising events are just as rewarding to the individuals who participate in them as they are to people with MS who benefit from the MS education, support, advocacy, services, and research that the fundraising pays for, and sometimes they are the same people!! For a complete listing of current programming and fundraising activities, visit www.MSnewengland.org.
	(Molly) Thanks, Todd!