Jon and Lisa are running Cape 2 Cape
If you’ve met Jon and Lisa, you know that they are passionate timber
engineers and educators, colleagues and friends. If you know them a little
better, you might also know that they’re passionate about mountain biking,
trail running, and really all things outdoors.
What you probably didn’t know is that Lisa has been living with
Multiple Sclerosis for over 13 years. Lisa doesn’t tend to make a big deal of
it, because generally, things were ‘fine’... until they weren’t.
In early 2022, Jon got a phone got call from Lisa, that went like
this:
“Jon, things are bad.”
“Why, what’s up.”
“I’ve had one flare up after the other and now I can’t even walk
to the bus stop without using my brolli as a cane. They found lesions in my
spine, my legs are like jelly, the wheelchair clock is ticking. I’m gonna go on
meds to slow down disease progression, but the side effects are terrifying. If
things go really wrong I might die. It’s not good, but I also don’t want my MS
to get worse. I guess, if I recover from this current flare up I better start training
for that ultra marathon, haha.”
And that’s when Jon came up with the idea to run the Cape to
Cape great walk in WA, 123 km, and raise funds for MS research. MS is the most
common disease of the central nervous system - currently there is no cure. The
treatments with the highest efficacy also have the scariest side effects (like ‘risk
of death’), and while disease progression is often gradual, it leads to
permanent disabilities.
Lisa thinks there’s no better way to ‘stick it to MS’, than to
go for a really long run together with a friend and raise money to research
better treatments (or even a prevention / cure). You can support this with a secure
online donation, or by organising your own fun-run-fundraiser at your workplace. MS Australia is a registered charity and donations are
tax deductible.
Thank you for your support!
Jon & Lisa
