National multiple sclerosis charity the MS Trust has announced MS Awareness 2008 from 14th to 27th April.

During MS Awareness, the Trust will be embarking on a number of high profile activities to demonstrate that you can embrace life with MS - with access to the right support and information, people with MS can do!

A detailed list of activities can be found at http://www.mstrust.org.uk but here's a snap shot of what's on;

- The launch of the new look website - more information, more accessible, more flexibility for people with MS who have visual, dexterity and fatigue problems
- The Trust's new logo is to be unveiled with an on-line competition
- A new book "Falls: managing the ups and downs of MS"
- Expert chatroom for young people with MS - what are the challenges to life style and expectations?
- Stay Active with MS - the web launch of a resource for people with MS who want to do anything from angling to yoga.
- A 100 foot mass abseil challenge off Millers Dale Viaduct, Derbyshire - 100 people with MS and the health professionals who work with them.

Chris Jones, Chief Executive of the MS Trust commented: "It's fantastic to see so many people with MS joining us on our abseil challenge, taking up new sports or hobbies, expanding their horizons and challenging perceptions of how people with MS live their lives.

"How many people really understand what MS is? Even those who know that MS stands for multiple sclerosis, rarely appreciate the impact it can have. MS Awareness is an opportunity for us to help change this and also to encourage people across the UK to focus the debate on how to improve MS services."

People are still signing up to take part in the abseil on the 19th April, many of whom want to raise funds as well as awareness. The objective of the abseil is to bring together people with MS, with all levels of mobility and people who work with them, to demonstrate what can be achieved by a motivated team, working together. People who are fed up of being told they can't do things because of their MS are feeling invigorated by the opportunity and the challenge!

In 2008, MS Awareness seems to have really captured people's imagination with people setting up MS Awareness events of their own all over the UK.

Multiple Sclerosis

MS affects approximately 85,000 people in the UK and two thirds of these are women. MS is most often diagnosed when people are in their 20s and 30s and is the most common neurological condition affecting young people.

In MS, damage or scarring occurs to the myelin sheath - a layer of fatty protein that protects the nerves in the same way that insulating material protects an electric wire. This damage disrupts the way in which nerve impulses are carried to and from the brain and leads to a range of symptoms, including fatigue, bladder and bowel problems, difficulties with walking and pain or abnormal sensations.

MS is a complex and unpredictable condition, which varies from person to person and does not follow a set pattern. Symptoms can come and go from day to day but there can also be relapses followed by periods of complete or partial remission.

The MS Trust

The MS Trust is a charity which works with and for the 85,000 people in the UK with MS. Our vision is to enable people with MS to live their lives to the full. We provide:

- information that is tailored to what people want to know
- education for health professionals about what people with MS need
- research into better management of MS
- support for anyone affected by MS

MS Trust