What is multiple sclerosis?
Everyone's body is full of nerves. Your nerves are the things that carry messages from your brain to different parts of your body.
So, if you want to walk, your brain's nerves tell the muscles in your legs what to do. And they do it – fast!
The brain works like a telephone, sending messages down a cable. Only the cable is your spinal cord – the nerves that run through the middle of your backbone. Your brain and spinal cord are called the central nervous system.
Sometimes my mom reaches out to get a coffee
cup but the 'message' doesn't get through to her hand and she misses.
When somebody has multiple sclerosis, the nerves in the central nervous system don't always work properly, so messages may not get through as they should.
Some people with multiple sclerosis might not be able to walk very well, because only a part of the message gets through. Sometimes a message is blocked completely, and the person can't walk at all. Other people with MS can walk easily any time, but find it hard to throw a ball, or see properly, or talk clearly. Just about any part of the body can be affected, so different people have different symptoms.
Scientists are learning more and more about MS every day. With the help of people like you, they can continue to work hard to find the cause and cure for this disease, while the MS Society provides many services to help tens of thousands of Canadians with MS and their families.
