AN MS SONG INSPIRED BY OUR EFFORTS TO RAISE AWARENESS

I’m a single mom of 3 who has been dx with MS for nearly 8 years now. I have had a team for the MS walk and Bike tours (as well as I’ve ridden in the bike tour in 2005 on Team Avonex) since my dx in September 2002, nearly 6 years after my onset of symptoms. I’m a patient advocate for Biogen Idec, and I have been running an online support group through MSN groups since May 2003, it is now been moved to FaceBook where anyone can join once they befriend me first.
As you can see, MS Awareness is of utmost importance to me!
In the past 71/2 yrs since my dx, we have raised over $25,000.00 as a team collectively.
2 years ago I decided to take our Chapter’s 3.8 mile walk an additional 1500 miles to Spring Hill, Florida!
A childhood friend of mine (Kathi Sue Rizzo) down there who owns her own restaurant (Rizzo’s family restaurant) has been fund-raising for me as well as raising MS Awareness (which I believe is of utmost importance) on behalf of my team, Team Newly Diagnosed Fight, and the approximately 400,000 other people living in the U.S. with Multiple Sclerosis.
Spring Hill’s local radio station at True Oldies 106.3 and Scott Shannon have been plugging away every morning at 6am, asking people to go to Rizzo’s and make a donation towards our common goal for a cure!
The fund-raising efforts didn’t stop there, Monica, a R&B and Rap artist from down in South Florida a friend of Kathi's, was so inspired by what we were trying to do that she asked me if she can write a song on my behalf, of course I said sure go for it! With that I sent her a bio about myself, an article that the National MS Society did on me a year ago in Momentum, as well as any information that I could about MS, since Monica, herself did not at that time have MS (Kathy has just been recently diagnosed with MS herself ) I felt, as she did, that it was important that she learned as much as she could about this disease before writing a song that would be representative of all of us who do have MS.
On April 26th she will being doing a ‘gig’ at club Rbeach where some of the proceeds will be going towards my team’s fund-raising efforts, they have people donating things for raffles and door prizes to bring in more money and Monica and her production company will be selling her Cd that night with proceeds going to the National MS society on my behalf to a program or designation within the Society yet to be determined (there are so many causes that I want to help out with, (Nationally.)
ABC News in Florida is debuting our new MS song on May 1st, not only will this bring out awareness but it's going to show how people from all over can work together to get something major done!
Her song is amazing, I’d love for you to hear it, the song was recently put to a video and put onto You Tube by my daughter (the link will be at the bottom of my page), she has brought justice to all of us who are living and fighting each day with a disease that is so unpredictable.
I think it would be beneficial in light of MS Awareness and the start of the Nation’s MS Walk’s to bring this song out to the public. Kathy wrote this song for me and my team but also for ALL of us who fight this disease.
We are eager to bring as much awareness to as many people as we can for with awareness will come more money for research and with research hopefully one day MS will stand for Mystery Solved!
As you are aware that to date there are approximately over 400,000 people living each day with MS...yet, there are still too many who STILL have NO idea what M.S.
It's TIME TO CHANGE THAT!! M.S. stands for Multiple Sclerosis..MS is thought to be an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS consists of the brain, spinal cord, and the optic nerves. Surrounding and protecting the nerve fibers of the CNS is a fatty tissue called myelin, which helps nerve fibers conduct electrical impulses.In MS, myelin is lost in multiple areas, leaving scar tissue called sclerosis. These damaged areas are also known as plaques or lesions. Sometimes the nerve fiber itself is damaged or broken.Myelin not only protects nerve fibers, but makes their job possible. When myelin or the nerve fiber is destroyed or damaged, the ability of the nerves to conduct electrical impulses to and from the brain is disrupted, and this produces the various symptoms of MS.MS usually strikes anywhere between the ages of 20-40 years of age but can effect any age, including children...men and women are also effected but women are effected by MS more often then men.

...it's time to end this ....join the movement ........help to make a difference...spread awareness...I’d like very much to be able to help take this fund-raising that we started up here on Long Island that has traveled down to South Florida across the entire United States and make us one voice…



Lisa Zeankowski and Team Newly Diagnosed Fight.....we walk until the day NO one is newly diagnosed...and MS stands for Mystery Solved....
Please support MS by making your 2010 MS Walk donation by visiting my personal page on the Long IslandChapter’s secure website.
Just click on the link below and hit the donate to Lisa or participant link, and help support keeping MS families together;
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/NYHWalkEvents?px=1700814&pg=personal&fr_id=13116


Hear our MS song, called Move Sumthin on You Tube go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ViYzPCAsls