What would you say if we told you that nearly one million Americans are living with multiple sclerosis (MS)? If your reaction is something along the lines of, “Woah!”, “Yikes!”, or a combination thereof, we hear you. We thought the same thing at Fusion Medical Staffing. That’s why we do our part to get active in the community by hosting an annual fundraiser to raise awareness for MS.

Fusion Medical Staffing Raises Awareness for Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

What is MS?  

MS is a unique disease of the central nervous system that “disrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and body.” Essentially, the communication between your brain and the rest of your system weakens over time.

Although one of the first cases of MS was discovered in 1878, medical scientists are still unclear what exactly causes the disease. What makes it even more difficult is MS looks different in every patient and while one patient may experience a specific symptom, another individual with MS may never experience the same side effect.

What we do know is there are factors that healthcare professionals suspect contribute to the diagnosis of MS. Things like gender, genetics, age, geography, and ethnic background play a part in who may or may not develop the disease. To be more specific, medical scientists have discovered:

• Most people in the U.S. with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50
• There are at least twice as many women diagnosed with MS than there are men
• MS affects all ethnic groups with a prevalence in white Americans of European descent

The sad truth is that more and more people are diagnosed with MS each day and Fusion Medical Staffing continues to use its voice and resources to spread awareness throughout our community. Since 2018, Fusion Medical Staffing has hosted an annual Drive Fore MS golf tournament to help raise donations for the MS Forward Gym in Omaha, Nebraska.

Fusion Medical Staffing hosts fundraiser for MS

If you’re an avid golfer, then you can appreciate our punny event name, Drive Fore MS. Every year, Fusion Medical Staffing hosts a charitable golf tournament where corporate employees get to let out their competitive side to help raise money for a local organization that supports those with MS.

Here’s how it works: participating employees pay a donation fee for access to a golf tournament, plus a stylish, custom t-shirt. Then 100% of employee donations, along with Fusion’s company match, is donated to MS Forward Gym, a local organization dedicated to empowering individuals who experience MS. This year, Fusion Medical Staffing is proud to donate $50,000!

Daryl Kucera, the founder of MS Forward Gym, said the support Fusion Medical Staffing offers has helped the gym grow and expand several programs, so now they’re able to give more to those in the community with unique exercise needs.

“It really lends to the fact that there are individuals who believe in what we are doing and care enough about what we are doing here to really go overboard and do some incredible things to make people’s lives better,” Daryl said. “That’s what the friendship with Fusion Medical Staffing really means.”

Fusion Medical Staffing’s mission is to positively impact the lives of everyone we touch, and that’s what the annual Drive Fore MS golf tournament is all about. That, and the chance to hang out with some of our favorite folks from the gym!

More about MS Forward Gym

Daryl’s original vision for the gym was a space where high school athletes could come after school to train and practice. That all changed when a month after opening, Daryl learned that he, himself, has MS. After his life-changing diagnosis, Daryl’s mission for the gym evolved to include individuals who shared his diagnosis.

“We met with the MS Society and neurologists around Omaha, and we revamped our programs to work with individuals with MS,” Daryl shared. “And then, eventually we added Parkinson’s disease, dementia, and sight impairment accommodations to our services.”

A one-of-a-kind exercise facility, MS Forward Gym offers in-person and online workout sessions where clients can practice yoga, strength training, and cognitive therapy within a safe environment that accommodates their physical needs. Every fitness course is inspired by the idea that movement is another form of medicine and has the power to improve mood, focus, energy, strength, and coordination in those with neurological conditions or injuries.

“In each workout, we try to combine the emotional, mental, and physical aspects in everything that we do,” Daryl said. “Instead of just ‘Go, stop, go,’ it’s all about thinking about what you’re doing to engage your mind.”

Flash forward, and MS Forward Gym has since been nationally celebrated as a “post-formal physical therapy center for individuals diagnosed with MS and other neurological conditions.” Plus, the gym has completed three health-related studies to demonstrate the benefits of exercise on individuals diagnosed with a chronic illness.

“People can be people again,” said Daryl. “They are not an individual with multiple sclerosis; they’re not an individual with Parkinson’s [disease]. They are Daryl, they are Mary.”

Since Fusion Medical Staffing’s inception, we’ve been humbly dedicated to impacting the lives of everyone we touch, and our partnership with MS Forward Gym has given us the opportunity to expand that mission in ways we never could have imagined possible.

Daryl may have said it best, “The one thing I have found in the years of having this disease is that it can’t affect the heart.”