Tying a shoe, buttoning a shirt and walking; these are all things people don’t give a second thought about in their day-to-day life. But for a person with multiple sclerosis, it’s all they think about.
MS is an autoimmune disease that targets the myelin sheath that covers nerves within the brain and spinal cord, causing issues with transmitting signals between nerves. This disconnect within the nerves results in the deterioration of movement and control of the body.
While MS currently has no cure, equipment and medication are available to help combat the pain people with MS go through each day. In an effort to help members of the Columbia community who suffer from this disease, a student-run philanthropic organization called Rockin’ Against Multiple Sclerosis partners with Mizzou fraternities and sororities each year to raise money.
Sophomore Josie Rempfer is one of RAMS four directors and is in charge of overseeing and organizing events like Rock-It, a community lip sync battle. She was first introduced to the organization through Greek Life recruitment videos.
“We have 17 chapters involved, and seven or eight sororities involved out of the 13 or 14 in PHA, which is really good,” Rempfer said.
For some of the participants within these chapters, this is their first time hearing about RAMS.
“I’m a first-gen student, so I didn’t know anything about RAMS, or anything about, like, Mizzou or what works they had, but when I went through recruitment for Greek Life, one of the girls that was recruiting me talked about an org with multiple sclerosis,” Rempfer said.
Rempfer’s interest in the organization was personal, as her mother was diagnosed with MS. While Rempfer was growing up, her mother preferred to keep her condition away from the public eye. This caused Rempfer and her mother to miss many typical childhood activities.
“It was different seeing other people’s moms, like, be able to go to the zoo with her, go to the zoo with them, or, like, I don’t know, be able to go outside for so long,” Rempfer said.
Seeing her mother struggle to do commonplace actions throughout her life, Rempfer felt a drive to get involved once she found out about RAMS.
Each year, to kick off the spring season of RAMS events, there is a panel of speakers who talk to all organizations that participate in raising money for MS. Even though Rempfer’s mother previously kept her experiences with MS to herself, her daughter’s involvement with RAMS pushed her to come forward this year and share what her life with MS looks like. The speech Rempfer’s mother gave at Speaker Night made many students in the audience realize just how different things are for an MS patient, as she demonstrated how her decreased nerve functions in her hands made it difficult for her to even put on a shirt.
One of Rempfer’s co-directors, senior Thomas Willerth, had seen her drive throughout their time working together.
“I knew her mom had MS,” Willerth said. “I don’t remember exactly when I learned that some point last year, and so it’s kind of, it makes sense that it’s why she’s so driven and cares about it so much. But until I actually got to see her mom speak, you know, it made a lot of things a lot more clear on how it affected their daily life and what makes Josie so passionate about raising money.”
Rempfer’s personal goal for RAMS and the people of Columbia is not only to spread awareness surrounding MS, but to raise even more money than they did last year, which was around $158,000.
“A lot of people think that we’re raising money for a cure or for research, but we don’t want to do that,” Rempfer said. “We want to raise money directly for them and for the betterment of their, like, lives.”
