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Walking for a cure By Leah Fillion Hundreds join in walk to fund MS research Ally Klaer found out 18 months ago that she had multiple sclerosis. What she once considered to be a death sentence is now her motivation to raise money and find a cure for the disease. On Sunday, the Lone Star Chapter for MS hosted a walk at Dell Diamond that brought in over 500 people and $100,000 for MS research. Klaer and her team of 81 friends, coworkers and family members called the Spasmatics were the top fund-raisers bringing in over $9,800. Klaer called the team Spasmatics because of the leg and arm spasms she sometimes gets. And because she likes the 80s cover band the Spazmatics, her mother Cynthia said laughing. It is Klaer's sense of humor and good attitude, Cynthia said, that keeps her daughter hopeful and actively working to raise money to find a cure. Klaer has been the biggest fund-raiser the last two years of the walk in Round Rock and was there to high-five people as they made laps around the baseball stadium. Multiple sclerosis, which affects over 20,000 Texans, is a disease that attacks the central nervous system and interferes with the brain's ability to send and receive messages to the rest of the body. Sclerosis means the disease causes the brain and nerve tissue to become scarred. MS can affect things like mobility, speech and vision. There is currently no cure for MS, however, with over $17 million raised in Texas alone researchers hope to find ways to delay the progression of the disease, improve quality of life and ultimately find a cure.
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