On the ROAD to a CURE.A son raises funds and gets his dad new wheels. Did you hear about the guy who swam down the Mississippi River Mississippi River River, central U.S. It rises at Lake Itasca in Minnesota and flows south, meeting its major tributaries, the Missouri and the Ohio rivers, about halfway along its journey to the Gulf of Mexico. to fight multiple sclerosis? No, this isn't a Jay Leno Jay Leno (born April 28, 1950) is an Emmy-winning American comedian, writer who is best known as the current host of NBC television's long-running variety and talk program The Tonight Show. Biography Leno was born in New Rochelle, New York. routine. Nick Irons, a twentysomething athlete and former production assistant for American Gladiators  This article or section contains information about a scheduled .It may contain non-definitive information based on commercials, a website or interviews. , swam 1,550 miles from Minneapolis, Minnesota “Minneapolis” redirects here. For other uses, see Minneapolis (disambiguation). Minneapolis (pronounced IPA: /ˌmɪniˈæpəlɪs/) is the largest city in the U.S. to Baton Rouge, Louisiana For the Canadian restaurant, see . Baton Rouge (from the French bâton rouge), pronounced /ˈbætn ˈɹuːʒ/ in English, and in 1997, as a fundraising and public-awareness initiative. Irons, whose father has MS, dreamed up his aquatic feat in an airplane: "I flew over the Mississippi, looked down, saw the river, and thought, `Hey, it might be sort of fun to swim that.' When I got off the plane, my dad was using a cane for the first time. And he was limping more than he ever had before." Irons lost no time organizing his 4-month adventure, and ended up raising more than $100,000 for MS research. So what is he doing for an encore? As you read this, Nick Irons is midway through a 5-month, 10,000-mile tour around the perimeter of the United States--on a bicycle. Dubbed "Going the Distance: The Nationwide MS Bike Tour MS Bike Tour or MS 150 refers to any of a series of charity bicycle rides organized by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in various locations around the United States and Canada. ", the trip began April 3 in Rosslyn, Virginia Rosslyn is an unincorporated area located in the northeastern corner of Arlington County, Virginia, north of Arlington National Cemetery and directly across the Potomac River from Georgetown in Washington, D.C. , and with right turns in Tallahassee, San Diego, Seattle, and Hartford, it will loop back around to the nation's capital by August 28. Pop psychology John Irons, MD, a 55-year-old allergist al·ler·gist n. A physician specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of allergies. allergist Immunology A physician, who is often trained in both internal medicine and clinical immunology and who manages Pts with , rode the first mile of "Going the Distance" alongside his son, on a 53-pound, 49-speed, 3-wheel recumbent recumbent /re·cum·bent/ (re-kum´bent) lying down. re·cum·bent adj. Lying down, especially in a position of comfort; reclining. bike donated by Penninger. Explained Nick: "MS has given him very weak legs. He's been working hard on improving his strength, but his gait has been thrown off by the weakness." The new bike was a challenge for Dr. Irons, who trained for his part in Nick's event for 6 months: "It wasn't so much the strengthening of muscles as it was learning the mechanics of keeping my feet in, and how to steer and use the brakes and things like that. I think that exercising the muscles helped my gait somewhat. I don't want to oversell o·ver·sell tr.v. o·ver·sold , o·ver·sell·ing, o·ver·sells 1. To contract to sell more of (a stock or commodity) than can be delivered. 2. To be too eager or insistent in attempting to sell something to. that, but I think it did. "Being able to start with Nick was an exhilarating experience. I got up the first hill, at the beginning of the ride, then there was a slight downhill, and then another substantial uphill, and I asked myself, `Will I be able to do this?' And about 3/4 of the way up, I thought, `Nothing's going to stop me from doing it.' I made it to the top. Nick, riding alongside of me, looked down and said, `You still have 6 easier gears you could have been using.' And finding out I had accomplished that big hill that way felt like a feather in my cap." Now, while Nick presses on with the other 9,999 miles of his tour, Dr. Irons is spending the summer "taking the bike out and enjoying the nice weather whenever I have a chance." As InsideMS went to press, "Going the Distance" had raised haft a million dollars from corporate sources, paying the expenses of the tour "a couple times over," said Nick. He will continue to solicit funds from individuals en route, with $3 million as his ultimate goal--and all proceeds go to the National MS Society. Nick Irons is definitely going the distance in more ways than one. Anyone interested in participating in "Going the Distance" can log on to www.goingthedistance.net, call 1-8002-BEAT-MS (1-800-223-2867), or write to Going the Distance, P.O. Box 2087, Rockville, MD 20847. Local chapters of the National MS Society are signing up cyclists to join the tour as it comes through their area, and a limited number of recumbent bikes are available for people with MS. Henry Hample is managing editor of this magazine. |
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