On Thursday 25th April, a team of 12 people will be conducting a ‘wing walk’ to raise money for MS Wales. The event will take place at the Aerosuperbatics airfield in Cirencester and the 12 adrenalin-fiends or volunteers (whichever you prefer!) will be taking to the skies on top of a Boeing Stearman Biplane for the ride of their lives.
Organiser Kathryn Foot has pulled together this team through social media. The team members are from across the UK and haven’t met each other as yet. Four of them have Multiple Sclerosis, two are MS Wales Council members and all have been brought together to raise much-needed funds for the MS Society to help those affected by MS and to support research.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological condition; it attacks nerves in the brain and spinal cord, causing a wide range of symptoms including problems with muscle movement, balance and vision. Once diagnosed, MS stays with you for life and it is different for everyone. The MS Society estimate there are approximately 100,000 people with MS in the UK. And that each year 5,000 people are newly diagnosed with the condition. This means around one in every 600 people in the UK has MS.
Living with MS can bring real challenges but a lot has changed since the first effective treatments became available in the nineties. Knowledge about MS is growing all the time. Research into even better treatments is making progress, new ones keep being launched, and recently there have been some major breakthroughs. Hence the reason why events like this are so important. Research takes a considerable amount of funding and Kath and her team are intent on doing their bit for the cause!
Kathryn’s mother and sister both have MS and this drives her on to raise as much money as possible so that a cure can one day be found. Kathryn says;
“The Wing Walk terrifies me. I hate heights, really hate them! But, it is a great way to raise money and it’s something different! MS affects so many people and poses real challenges for so many people in their lives – things that I take for granted, on a daily basis. So pushing myself to do something that terrifies me is the least I can do.”
She added;
“Pulling a team together was not hard, as so many people were willing to take part. MS affects so many people and has wonderful supporters”
The flights have been part-paid for by some extremely generous companies, such as Mooneeerams Solicitors, Church Village Funeral Services from South Wales, the Cooperative, the Welsh independent firm specialising in chimneys, stove and fireplaces, Topstak and London-based Creative Agency Yellow.dot.
Alistair Worth, Director of successful South Wales based law firm, Mooneerams Solicitor says;
“We are proud to be a corporate sponsor and be associated with this event. It is such a courageous thing to do and by supporting the wingwalk team all monies raised through sponsorship can now go to the MS Society”
Anyone wishing to sponsor Kath or any member of her team can do so at https://mydonate.bt.com/teams/mswingwalkers2019
For more information on MS and the work of the MS Society, at https://www.mssociety.org.uk/care-and-support/resources-and-publications/publications-search/ms-in-the-uk.
