Events to benefit MS society

Fundraisers

Two events to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society will be Saturday.

The Lawrence MS Walk is from 8 a.m. to noon. It begins at Liberty Hall, 646 Mass.

For more information, call (913) 432-3927.

The evening fundraiser begins at 7:30 p.m. at Abe & Jake’s Landing, 8 E. Sixth St. Two bands, 90 minutes and the McCoy Nelson Band, will play. A $5 donation is requested at the door. Anyone who donates $10 or more will receive a raffle ticket to possibly win a prize donated from one of several local businesses.

Melissa Hider is ramping up her efforts this year to support her father’s fight against multiple sclerosis.

In the six years since her father was diagnosed with primary progressive MS, Hider, 28, of Overland Park, usually participated in the annual National MS Challenge Walk fundraiser to earn money to find a cure for the often disabling disease of the central nervous system.

On Saturday, she’s not only doing the MS walk, but she is hosting her own fundraiser at Abe & Jake’s Landing for her father, Jim Witthaus, 52, of Lawrence.

“I think it’s emotional just because when you do research and find out more about it, it’s not a disease they have a cure for,” said Hider, an Energy College Administrative Coordinator for Black and Veatch. “You watch him slowly deteriorate; even now he has a walker and uses a scooter.”

Losing mobility has been a difficult adjustment for Witthaus, who was an avid runner, he said. He first noticed painful symptoms in his calf during his runs. The problems persisted and progressed for 15 years. Twice in his life he did a series of tests to discover the cause of pain. Finally, a doctor conducted an MRI and found lesions that indicate MS.

Today, Witthaus, who is marketing director for Coffeyville Nitrogen and Fertilizer, part of CVR Energy, has an appointment to learn if he has an even rarer form of MS, progressive relapsing MS, which causes an increasing deterioration of the body.