The fifth annual Walk MS Platteville will be held at UW–Platteville’s Ullsvik Hall Sunday, May 3.

Check-in begins at 9 a.m. and the 1- and 3-mile walks begin at 10 a.m. There is no registration fee, but Walk MS participants are encouraged to make a donation or fundraise.  Team captains are asked to register before their team members sign up.

In addition to the walk, there will be a silent auction, pick your bucket raffle, children’s activity area, balloon artist, photo area and snacks and lunch are provided.

The 2014 Walk MS Platteville included 27 teams, 270 participants, over 40 volunteers and raised $33,324.

Walk MS is a volunteer-driven event coordinated by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.  Each location features accessible routes for wheelchairs and scooters, rest stops, first aid and more.  It is the largest annual fundraiser of the National MS Society–Wisconsin Chapter.

Wisconsin is believed to have one of the higher prevalence rates of multiple sclerosis in the nation, with more than 11,000 children, women and men who have disclosed to the National MS Society that they have been diagnosed with MS. MS is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system, and interrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between 20 and 50, with at least two or three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 2.3 million people worldwide.

For more information or to register for Walk MS Platteville, please contact the National Multiple Sclerosis Society–Wisconsin Chapter at walkMSwisconsin.org or 1-800-242-3358.