Kerri Maunula was 33 years old in 2007 when life came crashing down around her.
A long-time volunteer with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Thunder Bay, out of nowhere her finger started twitching. Soon afterward the lower half of her body went numb.
Tests proved her doctors right – she had contracted the very disease she’d been working to fight.
“I woke up one day and couldn’t lift my arms,” said Maunula on Wednesday, after being named the MS Society of Thunder Bay’s mother of the year for 2013.
“I couldn’t feed myself, I couldn’t use my hands; I couldn’t sit up. It was horrifying. It was devastating. Eventually you just keep a positive attitude and keep moving forward.”
Told she was a candidate for a radical new treatment that involved opening up veins in her neck, Maunula flew to Phoenix to have the procedure done.
Luckily for her sake, many of her symptoms have disappeared. But the surgery does not have the same effect on all patients. Many are no better off than they were before.
It’s one of the primary reasons Maunula decided to accept the mother of the year award, allowing her to be an official ambassador in the fight against a disease that hits women twice as often as men.
“We have a lot of work ahead of use for fundraising, but we need a lot of help,” she said. “We need a cause. We need a cure that will help everybody, not just some people.”
The local MS chapter is hosting a pair of events in May to help the cause. They’ll be selling carnations at Intercity Shopping Centre, as well as at local liquor and beer stores. Lace Up For MS, the organization’s annual fundraising walk, is scheduled for May 26, starting at the CLE’s Heritage building.
Linda Adamson, the chairwoman of the MS Society of Thunder Bay said May was chosen as MS Month because of Mother’s Day.
“Women are two times more likely to have MS than me. Typically MS hits women in their most productive years, in their 20s and their 30s. That’s usually when they have very small children or are thinking of having children,” Adamson said.
“So there’s a really nice tie between Mother’s Day and women with MS.”
McKellar Coun. Paul Pugh was on hand Wednesday at City Hall, where a flag was raised to commemorate MS Month.
Pugh said a city is more than the buildings and infrastructure that tend to dominate news headlines.
“What really makes a city is the people and organizations like the MS Society,” he said, officially proclaiming the special month in Thunder Bay.
