Peter Brown prepares to tackle the walk. 31879
By Casey Neill
FERNTREE Gully’s Peter Brown is urging people to put on their runners to get moving for a good cause.
Mr Brown will tackle this Sunday’s (14 June) MS Walk and Fun Run around Albert Park Lake to raise awareness of Multiple Sclerosis, support people living with the disease and aid the search for a cure.
Mr Brown signed up for the event for the second time with three friends from the Yarra Valley Aero Club (YVAC).
He said it was a fun way to ‘give a bit back’ to the community.
“And it probably does me a bit of good as well,” he said.
MS has also hit close to home for Mr Brown. It claimed the life of his cousin’s wife.
“It was fairly depressing to watch, because the first year when we knew she had it she had a bit of a limp. The next year she was on a walking stick,” he said.
“Two or three years later she was in a wheelchair. Then she was bedridden.”
“It’s just a horrible disease.”
MS randomly attacks the central nervous system, brain and spinal cord, causing fatigue, impaired vision and loss of balance through to partial or complete paralysis.
More than 20,000 Australian are living with MS. There is no cure.
Mr Brown encouraged everyone to give the event a go.
“It helps MS, it helps the community and it’s a lot of fun,” he said.
“We had a great day last year and we’re going back for seconds.”
He said his team was quite competitive when the race kicked off.
“But the second lap the competition goes out the window a little bit and it’s survival,” he said.
Participants can choose between a 10km run at 9am, or a 5km or 10km walk starting at 10.30am.
Both events start and finish at Palms Lawn.
The course is stroller and wheelchair-friendly and dogs on leads are welcome.
Entry fees on the day are $30 for adults, $18 for children, $55 for a family of one adult and two children, and $80 two adults and two children. MS clients can compete free.
Details on the walk and ways to sponsor competitors are available from www.mswalk.org.au or by calling 1800 287 367.
