Local teen diagnosed with MS

Every day in the United States, a person is diagnosed with MS. But not every day does a 16-year-old receive that diagnosis.

Cody Bryan of Menomonie, a sophomore at Menomonie High School, learned last summer that he has multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects the central nervous system, made up of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.

Diagnosed at Rochester Hospital in Minnesota, Cody endured a week of treatments to help him regain feeling in his left arm and to stop the growth of lesions on his brain and spinal cord. He underwent a spinal tap, an MRI, X-Rays of his chest and numerous blood tests. Now he gives himself injections three times a week.

But Cody is persevering and remains a typical teenage boy. His family says he loves listening to Bill Joel records and looks forward to getting his drivers license.

Symptoms of MS can be unpredictable, making the disease even more of a challenge with which to live. Because nerves are affected, MS interupts the flow of information between the brain and the body, and movement can be difficult or cease altogether. Symptoms range from the mild numbness and tingling in the limbs to the severe, including blindness and paralysis. But each individual with MS is affected differently, as the disease progresses.

According to the MS Wisconsin Chapter, more than 10,000 men, women and children in Wisconsin have been diagnosed with the disease, giving the state one of the higher prevalences rates in the country. In fact, regions further from the equator tend exhibit a higher rate of MS.

Although the disease cannot be predicted, the family says the advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS.

With that in mind, they invite the public to make online donations to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society-Wisconsin Chapter at http://www.nationalmssociety.org or participate in the upcoming MS Walk on Saturday, April 27, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., starting at Davies Center on the UW-Eau Claire campus.

Here is the original post:
Local teen diagnosed with MS