My wife has MS - multiple sclerosis. So do several people I've worked with over the years, as well as some friends or their relatives. It's a puzzling, confounding disease - or maybe family of diseases - that once was called "the crippler of young adults." That's misleading, at best, in no small part because it has an unpredictable course. There's no cure, and it doesn't even behave the same from person to person.

Research is chipping away at the mystery, and some of the funding comes from MS Walks around the nation. We've participated or helped out for several years at the one in our hometown, which drew a large crowd on April 5 despite temps in the 40s, a stiff breeze and humidity left over from more than 3 inches of rain the day before.

Some celebrities who have it include Teri Garr, Monteil Williams, Clay Walker, Neil Cavuto, Lena Horne, Annette Funicello, "Squiggy" from the "Laverne and Shirley" TV Show, the late Richard Pryor, and J.K. Rowling's mother. MS has hit each of them differently - some are active and some were quickly and severely disabled by the disease.

My wife was diagnosed 20 years ago this spring, following a frustrating skiing vacation that she spent mostly lying on the snow. MRIs are used to help diagnose the disease; they mixed up her films with those of a gentleman who had a large brain tumor, so when we first pulled them out to look at the images, both our hearts nearly stopped until we noticed the discrepancies in name, etc. Somehow that seemed to give us courage to face whatever the real diagnosis turned out to be.

The more we learned about MS, the less courage I had - my wife adopted the attitude that it's a damn nuisance and bore up patiently with my anger, angst, frustration and hovering. As time went by and her symptoms continued to be mild, we realized our experience would be different from that of many others.

So if there is an MS walk in your community, join your neighbors, write a check or just come out to cheer them on. A lotta good people will thank you.