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September 18, 2011 (Santee)--Mike Belk works in Santee as a dispatcher at Gold Coast Flood Restoration. On the weekends, he enjoys relaxing and hanging out with friends. However, over the
weekend of Sept. 23 to 25, the 26-year-old will be among about 300 people walking 50 miles in three days in the Southern California Challenge Walk MS, a fundraiser to raise research dollars for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Mike has MS a chronic, unpredictable and disabling disease of the central nervous system with no known cause, cure or prevention. He was diagnosed in June 2010, three weeks before his wedding on July 17, 2010. “I have lesions on my brain and a few back pains here and there, but overall, I’m doing okay,” he said. “I would feel extremely selfish if I didn’t do whatever I could to fight this disease.”
Mike will be joined on the Challenge Walk by his wife Heather, also age 26. She works as an executive assistant with the Associated Students of the University of California at San Diego (UCSD).
The minimum donation required to walk in the 2011 Challenge Walk MS is $2,500 per person. Mike and Heather would be grateful for any additional donations so they can both qualify to walk. Online donations can be made atwww.MyMSChallenge.com, click “Donate” on the left side and type in Mike’s name. More info on their fundraising efforts can be found on their website, www.dabelks.com.
This year’s 10th annual Southern California Challenge Walk MS will follow a route along the coastline from Carlsbad’s Flower Fields to Downtown San Diego. The fundraiser, which has drawn as many as about 325 walkers in previous years, has a goal this year of raising $1.7 million for MS research and programs and services for Southern Californians living with MS. Last year’s Challenge Walk in 2010 featured 260 walkers, 65 of them with multiple sclerosis, who helped raise about $1.2 million.
MS is the most common neurological disease leading to disability in young‑ to middle‑aged adults. Most people are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, and more than twice as many women as men have MS.
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