There are little things that you can do to make a big difference in the life of someone that has MS. Recycling is one of these ways that is truly a win-win situation. By recycling you help the environment. When you take the money you receive and give it to support Multiple Sclerosis research or someone with MS you complete the double play.

In the left column you’ll find a section marked “Recycle” in it are items listed that can be recycled. By choosing to use these links you will be helping to find a cure for MS, the number one disabling disease of young adults.  Below is a brief description of the items that can help fight Multiple Sclerosis.

Cell Phones – I have set up a link from Cell For Cash, so that the old cell phone you aren’t using can be recycled. Just follow their step by step instructions. Be advised that they may not take all cell phones. However for any phone that they accept the money paid out will be given to the Oklahoma Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Shipping is free and you must use this link for the MS Society to receive any money.

Ink Cartridges (Not Toner Cartridges) – A deal has been established with Empties 4 Cash and Wipe Out MS. Take all your empty ink cartridges and click on the link provided. You’ll be taken to the Wipe Out MS page. Use their website to see if the cartridges you have are ones they are looking for. If they are click on the button that’s on the Wipe Out MS page that says “Support This Cause”, then follow the instructions. Shipping is free and the money paid out will go to the Oklahoma Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Be sure to ask friends and relatives if they have any empty ink cartridges so you can ship them in at the same time. The more cartridges turned in, the more funds to fight MS.

Vehicle Donations – Do you have a clunker, you know a car or truck that you just don’t have a use for or it’s broken down. Use the link in the recycle section to donate it to the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America. You can get a tax deduction and again help with MS research.

Other Items – I’m looking for other products that can be recycled for MS, in which I can place a link from this website. If you know of anything please contact me by clicking below.

It’s been awhile since the first idea of carrying a medical alert bracelet or necklace came about. The idea of having a means to alert rescuers that you have a condition like Multiple Sclerosis even today can make a big difference if something happens and you can’t respond for medical help.

It’s estimated that 3 out of 4 with MS remain mobile and unfortunately that means risks. The slip that causes you to fall and renders you unconscious is just one example. Or the unexpected auto accident like I had back in 2005 when on the day before Thanksgiving another driver ran a red light, striking my van in the side at about 45 mph.

With today’s technology there is a better means to alert medical staff besides potential rescuers about your medical condition. Whether you have Multiple Sclerosis, heart disease, diabetes, or another medical condition, putting as much medical information in front of the paramedic and emergency room doctor can mean life or death when minutes count.

Put yourself in the shoes of the paramedic or emergency room doctor when you need help and you are unable to respond about the drugs you’ve taken.  Or allergies you have that could be fatal if you are given the wrong medication.

When rescuers arrive to find you unconscious or unresponsive serious questions must be answered. How old are you? What drugs have you taken? A reaction between the drugs you’ve taken and one given could kill. Are you having an allergic reaction? Do you have a preexisting medical condition? The list of questions can go on and on while your life can hang in the balance. The answer to the questions above can be easily dealt with by carrying a flash drive with all your medical information on it.

 For almost 2 years I’ve carried the blue flash drive shown above with my medical records in it. At a cost of about $15 I think it is money well spent. Every one of these flash drives I’ve seen is plug and play; you don’t need to be a computer genius to make it work. Another advantage is that when I need the information because I’m seeing a new doctor, I’ve got it at my finger tips.

So what does my doctor say, “I wish all my patients did that, it would mean that I would have more accurate information”. This would be even truer if you were seeing more than one doctor. He went on by saying he could plug it into the computer in the treatment room with me there and we could review it together.

I’ve talked to and shown both Oklahoma City and Edmond fire rescue personnel about my flash drive idea. All have said it’s a great idea. All have said they carry laptops with them on the job that have USB ports available and that many police officers also have computers with available USB ports. They have all said that besides having a medical history in front of them, that having the ability of being able to communicate with the patient’s own doctor would be extremely valuable. With this in mind here’s a news video that was shown in Oklahoma City about carrying your medical records with you. I found it on You Tube.

So now you have choices to make, do you want make it easier for potential rescuers?  If you decide to follow through with the idea, then you have not only a choice of size but where you’ll carry it and whether you want to make the files or buy one with a program installed.

Carrying it around your neck, wrist or with your keys are all good choices.

Go for at least a gig of storage as x-rays and MRIs can also be stored on it.

I recommend that if you use a plain flash drive that you use it only for your medical records. Carry in your wallet an identification card indicating that the flash drive is available. And by all means when you organize your medical records make it simple to get the information.

The other option is to buy a medical flash drive that already has a filing system installed. These usually are marked in away to indicate a medical alert identification. They also may come with other options like being able to store a back up copy securely online or having information engraved on them. These usually cost from $30 to $50, still very inexpensive when taken they can save a life.

Remember by taking a little time to take care of this now can mean a loved one won’t have to provide information that could be inaccurate in an emergency.

Did you know that you can show support for Multiple Sclerosis by using your twitter page? You can by using Twibbon.com for your Twitter profile image. Doing this is easy and costs you nothing. For that matter the basic idea could be applied elsewhere to promote MS awareness.

Okay, so what is Twibbon? Well it’s an application for Twitter that lets you overlay an image on your Twitter profile photo to display what you support by using an image. Part of making the Twibbon is the tagging so that numbers of support can be counted among other things. Once you post your image, to your Twitter account it will be automatically send out a tweet to let everyone know what you support. You can check out my Twitter page to see the orange ribbon for yourself at Twitter.com/WipeOutMS and look at the profile image.

So here’s how you can show awareness to MS. First you need your image for your Twitter profile. Twibbon recommends an image that is 73 by 73 pixels. I know it’s smaller than any photos you have, but you mainly need the face and you need a photo editing program anyway. Don’t worry about the photo editing.  Secondly you need a ribbon image that has a transparent background. Don’t worry if you can’t make one or find one. I found an open source ribbon that’s at the bottom of this post. Right click on it and save it to your computer.

Now as I said you’ll need a photo editing program. I have Adobe Photo Element and it worked great. But you can also use pixlr.com online for free. Yes I tried it and yes I made an image. Picasa at Google may also work but I don’t know. Anyway all you’re going to do is resize your photo to 73 by 73 pixels. Then copy and adjust the ribbon to the size you want and layer or paste in on your image.

Once the image is the way you want it, save it as a PNG, GIF or JPEG image to your computer. Finally go to Twibbon, login with your Twitter account user name and password. Click on create and follow the instruction. That’s it.

Need a ribbon? Grab this one.    

Well it’s over the 2009 Edmond Walk MS is history; the last Walk MS this year. Like other Oklahoma Chapter of The National MS Society events it was a lot of fun. The walk was well organized even though there were a record number of walkers that exceeded the goal that had been set. Yeah!

The Oklahoma chapter’s website shows my team Glass Aid was the top corporate team turning in $523. It’s not too late you can still make a donation this month.

High fives to all the teams that participated and helped to go over the $4000 mark, over double what the goal had been.

Of note in the Family & Friends team category. “Megan’s Mates” were on top with $983 collected. Megan herself took in $720 for the Edmond Walk MS to be the Top Participant Fundraiser”. According to her page on the Oklahoma Chapter’s website she has MS and her page is compelling as to why you should help out. Here is a link to her page that I think you should check out. Megan's Page 

With this walk as in the past events I saw several make the walk in a wheel chair as a result of their MS and the course the disease had taken with them. As with other events including the recent Bike MS many carried reminders of why they were walking. Equally many wore a green bandana indicating that they were an “MS Champion” which means they were walking for somebody that suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. I myself though connected to the disease chose to also be an MS Champion walking for Brad whom I met late this summer. Brad is in his mid twenties and has had MS a couple of years. He has a “great attitude” in spite of having a condition that has left him in a wheelchair and suffering from tremors besides vision issues.

All that said, the walk started at the UCO Wellness Center just after 2 PM with Lucy Fraser giving a short speech. After which we headed out for a cool autumn walk on the UCO campus; at least it was dry.

Shortly after starting the walk I saw the above sign that was placed near the beginning of the walking path to encourage us to walk in spite of the cold weather. The trail was well marked and police monitored the major intersections. During the walk I had a number of opportunities to take some photos; below are more of these pictures.

The leaves were just starting to change color which made it a pretty time to be out walking. About another week or two it should be awesome with the color.

I was surprised when I found the campus had a pond in the middle of it. It’s a good sized pond and in a week or two should become a beautiful spot to be at when all the leaves show more of their colors.

All around the UCO campus in Edmond are statues like this bird at the pond. Even some of the buildings are unique in their appearance showing both new and old styling.

An interesting statue that was on the Edmond Walk MS path, the arrow by the rock points the way. You can also see that it was overcast the whole time I was there.

Once the walk was over everybody got a round of applause from a group that included this mascot. As anyone that knows me, knows I usually wear my wide brimmed hat when I’m outside. The mascot thought he’d borrow it and as you can see it didn’t quite fit, it was about to fall off when I took this shot.

At the end of the event was another chance to socialize along with snacks and drinks. Again for those that didn’t show up you missed a fun event even with the cool weather. Hopefully next year the weather will be better.

Over the years I’ve heard stories of how powerful the human spirit can be. How individuals defy overwhelming odds to win. The Tulsa World reported in a story by Ziva Branstetter, “MS cyclists show their toughness”, is just the kind of story that is an example of what I’m talking about.

I knew that there were some riding with MS, Emily Teasdale was one example, but the Tulsa World story reported the number was 20 cyclists.

Their report on J’Nell Ash was very touching. At 46 J’Nell was riding with MS, a challenge in itself, but crashing just 15 miles into the 130 mile trip and then getting back on the bike to not only continue but to finish the day by riding  another  55 miles in spite of her injuries is amazing. Equally amazing, is that she rode the next day another 60 miles to the finish line at the Oklahoma State Capitol. The story reminds me of years ago watching, what I remember was an Olympic race in which one of the runners was injured. They continued on even though they knew they would finish last, they were determined to finish. I can remember how the crowd cheered them on and the triumph they showed at crossing the finish line.

This story also points out how some of the cyclists carried pictures or signs as to whom they were riding for. I saw that for myself as I watched a number cross the line. Nearby me at one point was what appeared to be a family waiting for their cyclist to finish the ride in from Chandler. They cheered as he crossed the finish line. Afterward he rode back to where they all were at. At this point it became clear the cyclist and the person they were riding for met. All of the members of the family had the same color shirts on and each one was lettered with what their position was in the team. This is one thing I remembered after read the Tulsa World Story. There is just so much to see at these events.

These are examples of why I enjoy going to and participating in MS Events. For those that would like to see stories like these for themselves come on out to the Edmond Walk MS this Sunday at UCO. For those that are interested in coming to the walk and want more information please visit www.NationalMSSociety.org/oke then click on the walk banner. You can also visit my team page at www.PreventCracks.org.  I hope to see lots of people out there, I’m sure it will be a lot of fun and if you come you will probably see how the human spirit can overcome.

To read the Tulsa World story click on the link: MS cyclists show their toughness

Recently I had the opportunity to help with the 2009 Oklahoma Bike MS. While there was some work involved it also was a lot of fun and was for a good cause. A week ago this last Saturday a record number of nearly 800 bicyclists rolled out of Tulsa Oklahoma. Their mission was twofold; raise awareness of Multiple Sclerosis and raise funds to support those with MS. Among the group was, Carisa Ramming who rode in memory of her mother and Emily Teasdale who has MS, riding along with her husband Tom. The cyclists were on a 135 mile trip to Oklahoma City on the Mother Road Route 66.

The next day (Sunday) I showed up at the Oklahoma state capitol to help out. My first job was to help unload all the equipment and luggage that had been transported in by truck from Chandler where the cyclists had spent the night.

After helping with the unloading I did set up chores before taking a break to eat and watch the first cyclists come in. During this time I took a few pictures which are posted below.

The finish line was at the south side of the state capitol complex.

Here is one of the first cyclists to arrive at the Oklahoma State Capitol Finish line. While I can’t say anything about the day before, I will say with it being in the 90’s it was hot. Fortunately for us working the Oklahoma wind was helping to keep us comfortable. For those riding a bike a couple of cyclists told me that the wind had made it a difficult ride. It was particularly tough as they climbed the hills coming into Oklahoma City.

An early day look at the Oklahoma Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis booth.

Here’s a view at some of the festivities with the Oklahoma capitol building in the background.

After taking a break I helped sort out luggage for the cyclists as they arrived and loaded bikes headed back to Tulsa.  The last cyclist finished at around 4:30 and I helped tear everything down. All in all it was a good day. I met a lot of people, the food was good and there was plenty, but most importantly I could clearly see why I was out there working.

As a final thought on this I would like to say the following. With this being the first Bike MS from Tulsa to Oklahoma City on Route 66 and it having a record number of cyclists good job to all, this includes everyone at the Oklahoma Chapter. A special thanks is in order to Blaine, Cristy, Brandi and Lucy, these are some of the heroes for those with MS. Another hero due thanks is Laura Steen from Chesapeake Energy she seemed to be everywhere and making it happen.

To both Bar S Foods and the Ben E Keith Company the food was good and there was plenty, nobody should have gone away hungry.

To the employees at Cox Communications you guys rock. It seems everywhere you looked Cox people were helping out.

Finally I’d like to list all the other sponsors that deserve thanks:

Sam;s Club  -  KOOL 106.1  -  2 Works For You  -  News Channel 4 KFOR  - Southwestern Publishing  -   Danny Beck Chevrolet  -  Big Country 99.5  - 1170 KFAQ  -EMD Serono  -  94.1 The Sound  -  Pfiser - Oklahoma State University  -  Marathon  - Oklahoma US 66  -  Urban Tulsa Weekly  -  GTR Newspapers  - Vernon AME Church  - Butler & Butler  -   Current  -  EMSA  -  Williams  -  Teva Neuroscience  -  LDR -  McGraw Realitors  -  2 Fellows In A Big Vehicle Moving Company