b'MS Focus ActivitiesSSuuppppoorrttCCoommeessiinnDDiiffffeerreennttWWaayyssE rEvveennttpprroovviiddeesseeyyeeooppeenniinnggooppppoorttuunniittyyt ossppeeaakkttooyyoouunnggaadduullttsstoBy Marcia HarrisAs you may or may not recall, I am theAirport hotel and was for young adults ages support groups and outreach manager at MS19 to 25 living with MS, NMOSD, MOGAD, and Focus: the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. Asother similar diagnoses. There were primarily such, I keep in contact with more than 110young women, but a few young men, from all support groups across the country. I do thisover the U.S.by having the leaders add me to their emailIf you are not familiar with Oscar the MS list, so I receive reminders of when and howMonkey, Emily Blosberg was diagnosed with the groups meet, how the attendance is, andMS at the age of 15. Her father has MS, so she so on. Once in a while, I am lucky enough towas familiar with the symptoms, but she was get invited to an event and actually be able toa teenager and wanted to talk to kids her own attend. This August, I attended an event andage. There were not many teens with MS, and even had time for an extra meeting with onethe closest one was more than ve hours away. of my very active support group leaders.Emilys father drove her to meet this individual, I traveled to Minneapolis on Aug. 1 to meetand so it began, as she contacted other teens with Rick Leaf, co-leader of the Just Breakfastand children with MS. While there is much Mens Group and the And Now Lunch Mensmore to this story, this is the basis. Group. Rick was kind enough to give me theOne of Emily\'s friends taught her how to nickel tour of the area which included Minihahamake sock monkeys, and she began selling Falls, the Guthrie Theater, Sculpture Park, andthem for fundraising. After nding a pair of lunch at George and the Dragon. Rick is suchorange socks in the hunting department of a a dedicated co-leader and is involved withstore, Emily decided to make a sock monkey another group: the CogniFitness group, whichfor herself for the rst time in a while. She will also be affiliating with MS Focus. It issaid she would name all the sock monkeys essential to meet our support group leadersshe made. in person, and I was thankful that Rick and IOscar would accompany Emily to several could meet.MS events, serving as a conversation starter That evening, MS Focus was one of theand allowing Emily to share her story. I got supporters at an event for Mr. Oscar Monkeydiagnosed as a kid, and Oscar is sort of a kid\'s on their last night of a weeklong camp. The camptoy," Emily said. Someone suggested she start was held at the Embassy Suites Minneapolisa Facebook page for Oscar so the community msfocusmagazine.org 24'