Timonium woman, and family 'dream team,' gear up for Walk MS

When Michelle Golberg steps out for this year's Walk MS, she won't be alone. The MS Dream Team, two dozen family and friends of her mother and cousin, both of whom have multiple sclerosis, will accompany her.

Golberg believes the effort made and the money raised benefits research on MS, if not to find a cure for the disease of the central nervous system, then to come up with treatment options that ameliorate the often debilitating symptoms.

"Both sides of the family are involved. It's great to have so many people coming together, to walk with me," said Golberg, 30, a Timonium resident, married to Billy Golberg. She has walked in MS benefits for the last nine years, the last two for National MS Society, Maryland Chapter. Last year, the MS Dream Team raised about $8,000, with Golberg herself accounting for almost $1,300.

This year's Annual Walk MS will be held on Sunday, April 12 at Hunt Valley Towne Centre, off Interstate 83, with registration at 8 a.m. and the walk at 9 a.m. The walk will wend its way from the shopping area of the outdoor mall to Bonnie Blink, the Maryland Masonic Home.

This is a new venue for the walk. For the past two years, it was held on the campus of Goucher College, where it was called the Towson MS Walk.

But organizers are hoping the Hunt Valley site will be more accessible and convenient and, with plenty of free parking, attract even more walkers than past events. This year's walk goal is 1,500 participants and $160,000, said Golberg, a member of the Hunt Valley MS Walk Committee.

Golberg was 13 when her mother, Marilynn Cohen, of Owings Mills, told her and her sister that she had MS. "She'd had it for some time but she was having a relapse and would need home care," Golberg said. She remembers trying to understand what this news meant for the family.

She credits her parents with answering "any and all" questions and with getting age-appropriate material from the MS Society. "It gave us a better understanding," Golberg said. Her mother, she said, has done "pretty well" with the disease.

In recent years, Cohen, who works part-time, has been walking several miles a day and has altered her diet, in line with MS research that lifestyle changes seem to help.

"She feels much better now," Golberg said.

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Timonium woman, and family 'dream team,' gear up for Walk MS