Well, at first, I was going to
ride in the MS 150 for just reasons of personal gain. I
wanted to say that I had done 150 miles. I wanted to say
that I had done what is considered to be the standard
charity ride for a cyclist. I didn't even know what MS stood
for when I first decided to do the ride. I just imagined the
ride as a huge gathering of club-type cyclists...guys who
won bike races and could quote individual times in the Tour
de France. I wanted to be a part of that, and that was the
reason I decided to join. I didn't care where the funds I
would raise went to, I just cared about myself.
Then I met (or re-met, whichever
you prefer) my friend Kristin. She's a freshman in high
school, and I'm a junior. We're two different types of bike
riders - she likes to ride her bike on a casual
level...she'll cruise on her Schwinn K-Mart mountain bike
around town for her big bike rides. I'm the type that wears
Spandex and a heart rate monitor and rides on the Pinellas
Trail for 30+ miles on my road bike.
We were talking one day, and she
told me that she was doing the MS 150 and asked me if I was
going. I tried to picture Kristin in what I thought the ride
would be like, riding her mountain bike in shorts and a
T-shirt among over a thousand other people in Spandex and on
road bikes...and I was amazed that she would want to do such
a thing. To me, it was all about the ride.
As I talked more and more to Kristin, however, I realized
that it isn’t all about the ride. Kristin’s mom has had MS
since before she was born. Kristin has seen the disease at
work firsthand every day of her life…and knowing now what
that entails, I just can’t fathom how bad a situation that
must be.
Kristin was riding not for herself, but for her mother and
everyone that is affected my Multiple Sclerosis, be it
directly or indirectly. Kristin just blew me away – she was
two grades below me, and she was riding for this huge, noble
cause, training harder and raising more than I was. My goal
was $200, and hers was $400. And she’s riding for all the
right reasons. She made me realize how selfish I was, to
just do the ride to say I had done the ride and not care
about the real reason the MS 150 is put on every year – to
help out people and families with MS. People like Kristin
and her mom.
So now I have a personal reason to ride and raise money for
the National MS Society. It’s not about being able to ride
150 miles. It’s about making life better for families
affected by a terrible disease.
I will be riding with Kristin and her dad come April 21st
and 22nd…and it turns out I’m going to be missing
my junior prom to do it. I haven’t even given missing prom a
second thought, because I know that what I’ll be doing it
more important.
Chances are you know a person
that is affected by MS in one way or another. Statistically,
according to the National MS Society, a person is diagnosed
with MS every hour. That’s 24 people a day. 168 people per
week. You can do the math from there. It’s a lot of people,
and they all have families and friends.
So please, do your part to help
these people out and donate to help fight MS and help out
those that already have it. It’s a great cause, and it’ll
help thousands of people with a terrible disease. You may
even know one. I do.
-Justin Sanak
