Maggie Wandell, 18, a self-described activist, has brought her enthusiasm to Hartwick College and Oneonta.
The Hartwick freshman has been fighting against multiple sclerosis. As she faces the disease daily, she said, she hopes to form a ``Maggie's Crew'' for a fundraising walk this spring.
Wandell would be building on her high school experience, when she organized a ``Maggie's Crew.'' In her college admissions essay, Wandell said, with help from community and high school groups, a ``Maggie's Crew'' she led raised $10,000 to help find a cure for MS by walking in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Walk.
Wandell and Phil Young, a Hartwick professor of art and art history, are informally sharing their stories about MS as part of national MS Awareness Week, which started Monday and runs through Sunday.
In the United States, about 400,000 people have MS, a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system, the MS Society website said. The progress, severity and symptoms of MS are unpredictable and vary.
There is no cure for MS, but treatments are available to modify the disease course, the site said, and most people with MS learn to cope with the disease and lead satisfying, productive lives.
Wandell said she was diagnosed with MS at age 15, news that she said shocked her and her parents.
Her disease meant dropping out of some activities, such as sports, at Pembroke High School in Pembroke, Mass., she said in her essay. But it also introduced options, she said, including successful runs for band president and junior class president.
At college, she wants to study courses to prepare her for work with special-education students. That goal became focused through living with MS, she said.
``I am proud that I learned not to define myself by MS, but rather by what I have learned about myself as a result of MS,'' Wandell wrote. ``I will not deny that there are days that I resent my initiation into The Club, but then again, there are days when I embrace it as a vehicle of survival and inspiration.''
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Denise Richardson can be reached at 432-1000 or (800) 721-1000, ext. 213, or at drichardson@thedailystar.com.
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