'COME ON LEG, WORK WITH ME'
Maureen Fisher of Bath finishes her 14th MS Walk
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

PHOTO BY ROB PRICE Maureen Fisher of Bath poses in Pulteney Park with a quilt her MS Walk team Fishtoon Day will raffle off next month. Stricken with MS in her early 20s, Fisher recently participated in her 14th MS Walk in Corning.

BATH - Maureen Fisher was in her early twenties when she began experiencing the numbness and tingling in her legs that signaled a drastic and devastating change in her life.

Once an athlete in the Haverling school district, where she also had been a cheerleader, Fisher eventually was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. The disease known as "the great crippler of young adults," led gradually to a loss of coordination and overall physical energy.

The mother of two boys, Fisher found she could no longer run across the baseball field where her young son was playing T-ball. "I say now, 'Come on leg, work with me,'" Fisher says.

She takes regular medication and visits the Multiple Sclerosis unit at Strong Memorial Hospital twice a year, where her disease is monitored ( "I've been on a medical plateau for years," she says).

And once a year, for the past 14 years, Fisher participates in the annual MS Walk in Corning. Her team, Fishtoon Day, has 20 members from Bath, Sa vona and Hammondsport, each of whom either suffers from MS or has a family member with the disease.

MS walkers gathered last Saturday at Corning East High School, where they had the choice of a 2.5- or five-mile route through the city. Altogether, the walkers raised $45,000 for MS research, and Fisher and her Fishtoon Day team continue to raise money. Last year, she alone collected $2,545 and was the top fundraiser for the Corning site of the New York Upstate Chapter of the National MS Society. This year, she hopes to beat that amount by at least one dollar.

"And I hope to raise $3,000 one of these years," she says.

Fishtoon Day also is conducting a raffle for a quilt donated to the team by an anonymous supporter.

Forty percent of the money raised through the raffle and the Corning MS Walk goes to the National MS Society; 60 percent remains in the area to fund education and research programs.

Multiple Sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system that strikes primarily young adults. According to the National MS Society, 400,000 Americans acknowledge having the disease; every week, however, 200 more people are diagnosed as MS sufferers.

Symptoms include a loss of coordination, depression, vision impairments, outright pain and chronic fatigue, explained Fisher, who managed to walk two miles during the MS Walk before retiring for the day. "Fatigue is my main problem," she said, "and it's the major complaint of a lot of people."

It's one of the many cruel elements of Multiple Sclerosis, Fisher adds. "It's a hidden disease," she said. "Everybody says, 'But you look fine.' Nobody sees."