If you know ten people with multiple sclerosis, you know, ten different stories.

It's a low percentage of people with MS that wind up like this.

And MS - no movement, you know, from the shoulders down.

But it wasn't until 1995 that I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

The thing that really got me at first, I used to golf a lot and finally a walk on a round of golf just got to be really hard to do.

My ankles would just get so sore.

I started a band back in 1990 called One Brick Shy.

Yeah, that just came a time where I just couldn't stand through the whole gig.

Finally, just came to the terrible realization that I had to retire from music.

You know, truly, it was my identity.

You don't determine a multiple sclerosis.

You basically eliminate all other possibilities.

Multiple sclerosis is lesions that form on the myelin sheath of the nerve endings and sort of like holes in a garden hose and disrupt the flow of the signal around the brain and from the brain to the rest of the body.

In 2011, I was telling people about SmartNav, its a hands free mouse.

Maybe notice I got on my glasses.

There's a little piece of kind of reflective tape.

Well, this I have a special camera on top of my computer that follows us so I can move the cursor around just by moving my head.

A friend who was standing behind me I didn't realize he was there, said hey, can you do emails and and Facebook with that?

I said, Yeah, lots more things.

And he said, we got to get one of those for Bob.

And I said, Bob who?

Bob Finch, who has MS and is living in a nursing home.

Another great friend, Dave Leighton, took me over there to see him at the nursing home.

And while I knew where Bob was at, he was like me.

And then one day, as we were, as Dave Leighton and I were leaving Bob's room, Dave said, He recalls that I said, boy, he doesn't have to live like that.

Because I remember not being able to change the channel.

I joked, imagine getting stuck on the Lifetime Channel all night.

The horror.

We'll get him hooked up so he can, you know, run the lights and the TV and let's let's get him a laptop and one of those SmartNav cameras.

And Dave said, well, you know, yeah, how are we going to do that?

I thought, we'll just email all of our friends and tell them what's up and see if theyll donate some money.

And man, and tell them what's up and see if theyll donate some money.

we figured we needed about $1400 dollars and we had well over 2000 before we knew it.

In 2017, Bob Finch passed away.

So the notion just hit Dave, why don't we take this memorial money and what's left of that money in a bad fund and put them all together and create an actual 501C3?

We just try to get people together, let them know that their life isn't over, that it's just going to keep going.

And and I've had MS since I've been 22 and I'm much older now, and that's kind of what this whole event is about.

You know, life is not over just because of a diagnosis.

The events like this do two things.

First and foremost, I think awareness is critical.

Increasing awareness helps people understand needs of their community members, but also it helps with that early intervention.

Raising funds is really important.

We need to raise funds to accelerate these cures and to provide the programs and services that we do for people.

And I guess I'd add a third part, which is community building.

Our tagline for our walks is Stronger Together, and these are moments where people can come together and feel like they're not alone.

Right.

And that's really, really important.

I think maybe probably the most important thing is to have a sense of community.

For the Finch fund.

Our mission statement is to provide resources.

People are aware of MS. To help them maintain their independence.

And quality of life.

Right now, 35 different projects The Finch Fund has granted money for totaling a little over $91,000 in our five years.

We're really proud of that.

Anything from a grab bar and a shower to a ramp, just being able to stay like for me at my home is everything.

Being able to live out in the community and experience things, it just gives me peace of mind.

Hi, my name is Greg, and we're going to demonstrate for you a little about the process of writing and recording a song you're about to hear.

I know I played some piano and I'd written some things years before that.

I found some software.

I could actually write the sheet music out and it would play it back to me.

And then I well.

I have a terrific friends that would come in one at a time.

And, you know, maybe play a guitar part.

Gave me a chance to express myself again, and I spent a lot of time concentrating on things that I'm grateful for.

And it really does help to yeah, its huge to have independence.

Iowa wherever I may roam.

Cradled by two rivers I, will always call you home.