Eastend MS Walk strolls past fundraising goal

If three's company, than the crowd gathered in Eastend yesterday must have been a party. 

Folks came from all over town and the surrounding area to join the MS Walk being held at the Eastend Recreation Centre. Together with online donors, they raised over $11,500. 

Gathering folks for the walk was the Chair of the Eastend MS Walk, Donavon Henrion, who suffers from MS himself. 

Donavon Henrion, with some slick shades.

"We have a little route that we walk," said Henrion. "It's about five to six blocks and we end up back here at the rink." 

For those who don't know, MS is shorthand for multiple sclerosis, a chronic disease which affects the central nervous system. 

The disease slowly leads to a loss of control over one's body, and has no known cure. 

The opening ceremonies for the walk were preluded by a speech from Henrion.

For Henrion, this disease first emerged when he was playing hockey one day, and he noticed his feet were numb. It slowly kept creeping into his playing, first eliminating his ability to skate backwards, and finally getting to a point he couldn't ignore any longer. 

"I played forward so I could hide it a little bit, but then it kept on progressing," shared Henrion. "Then I went and tried on skates at the outdoor rink in Calgary, and I kept falling. When I phoned my mom, like, yeah, we have to get checked out, something is really messed up."

Since his diagnosis, he hasn't given up the hockey player's mindset of giving 110 per cent effort. He is very active in his community, being from Shaunavon originally. 

"I've been on the [Disease Modifying Treatments]," said Henrion. "I've had two rounds of it. My last round was in 2018. With them, you have to rest your body, and I tend not to do that all the time. I tend to keep going and going and I kind of do my body more harm than good sometimes but with the hockey mentality, you don't quit. You just keep going, no matter how much the pain is and just give 'er."

Folks then went for a walk around the town, clearing five kilometres together to help bring awareness to this debilitating disease. 

Some of the key team members from the Eastend MS Walk.

The money will be donated through the MS Society of Canada, where it will contribute to ongoing research into a cure for this disease, hopefully allowing Henrion to once again skate down the ice again unaided.