MS CURE FUND is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to:
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Increasing awareness and understanding of Multiple Sclerosis and its debilitating symptoms
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Providing help and information to newly diagnosed patients
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Conducting educational programs & seminars for patients, along with MS neurologist led forums for support & case discussion
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Raising much needed funds going directly to the scientists and clinicians researching a cure for MS
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Patient education focused on how people living with MS can have the most fulfilling and rewarding life possible is what we are all about.
In 2015, MS Cure Fund launched the first ever standardized MS patient education of excellence.
HISTORY – How we got started
By Susan A. Strachan – Founder
Do you ever have a moment, a day, a week, a month, or year when all your stars are aligned?
Ever since I conceived the idea to start a charity for my disease of Multiple Sclerosis, people have made the difference and I believe in people. You’ll see why.
In March 2000, I was told I had MS by my neurologist, Howard Weiner, M.D. at the age of 36. All I knew about the disease was the pamphlets with sneakers I saw at convenience stores and shops throughout Boston for a charity Walk. What is MS? At that time, I didn’t know, my family and friends didn’t either. It is a disease that quietly affects young people, but not well known because you don’t die from it. Although there is no known reason why or how you get it, no medicines to prevent it, and no cure, we need to learn more about it with research in hopes to find a cure.
For the past 25 plus years I’ve been in event planning/management, fund raising, and charitable work in Boston and Palm Beach, FL. I have raised awareness and large sums of monies for causes including the arts, homeless, children disabilities, cancer and many more.
During a Fourth of July, 2004 Cape Cod family vacation, I came to my life’s crossroads…
I finally accepted that “I had MS,” was 40, single, no children, and after losing my Dad suddenly two years earlier, I realized that I didn’t have a legacy. It was then I came to a life changing decision… I was going to start a non-profit for Multiple Sclerosis to help raise awareness and funds directly for research. It was time to start working for a cause that affects me on a daily basis, living with Multiple Sclerosis.
That following September, 2004, I was volunteering at an event at Myopia Hunt Club, Hamilton, MA and was chatting with some of the folks about my new life cause and charity. Another volunteer, Kimberly Raymond overheard my story and mentioned a colleague of hers at work that has had the disease for many years, Mr. David McKay.
Within a month, he agreed to be our Managing Legal Director and secured his law firm of Ropes and Gray, LLP, Boston, MA to do all our legal representation as a 501©3 charitable organization. We are so fortunate to have such an experienced attorney and prestigious law firm’s professionalism to guide us throughout the upcoming years.
The third person and Medical Director of MS Cure Fund is Howard L. Weiner, M.D., the eminent neurologist, research scientist, and the Robert L. Kroc Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. He is founder and director of the Partners Multiple Sclerosis Center at the Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General Hospitals in Boston, and co-director of the Center for Neurologic Diseases at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Weiner has been on the forefront of developing new therapies for MS for more than thirty years and wrote a book in 2005 about his work called, “Curing MS” How Science Is Solving the Mysteries of Multiple Sclerosis.
With the efforts of three dedicated people embracing an opportunity to share and feel hope – we will pursue against the battle of this devastating disease together.
Our lives have been linked by MS. Each one of us has become a voice and vehicle to raise awareness and monies for research in hope to find a cure in our lifetimes.
Will you join us; just one person at a time can make a huge difference. Become that person today and make a donation to help us find a cure for MS.
Thank you so much for caring.
All my best,
Susan.
David McKay, Susan Strachan and Dr. Howard Weiner