Photograph by George Sakkestad
Linda Copper gears up for the 1996 Walk for Multiple Sclerosis.
By LESTER CHANG
Linda Cooper, a senior secretary with the City of Sunnyvale, achieved two goals close to her heart when she walked in the 7th Annual Walk for Multiple Sclerosis in Santa Clara Valley on April 14: helping those with the disease and walking.
"I love walking, and I get to help people at the same time," she said. "It is very rewarding."
Cooper joined more than 1,500 people who walked about 10 miles to raise funds for MS research.
Walkers followed a route from Campbell to Los Gatos or a route through the Palo Alto Baylands Athletic Preserve. The event was sponsored by the Santa Clara County chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
The disease strikes people between 20 and 40 years old. It attacks the central nervous system and leaves people unable to control their bodies.
In last year's walk, more than 1,300 people helped the local chapter raise a record-breaking $142,000.
This year's walk was Cooper's second. She became involved through a relative who is a friend of Darlene Casas, a San Jose resident with disease.
Casas found out she had multiple sclerosis on her 18th birthday, and has had hearing loss and double vision. Now 26 years old, Casas wears a cooling vest to lower her blood pressure.
Casas said she doesn't like to complain about her condition. "When I get sick I never say a word," said Casas, who will participate in the walk in a wheelchair. "It's kind of a bummer living with someone who is always complaining."
Her struggle and her will to lead a normal life prompted Cooper to help people with the disease.
When I see her and people like her with this thing, I am glad I could do this small thing for them," Cooper said. "It is my small contribution."
Two years ago, Cooper stopped a 30-year smoking habit and, as a way to get healthier, she now walks up to 4 miles, four times a week.
From the walk, the local chapter will keep 60 percent of the funds to help Valley residents with the disease, Hines said.
The other 40 percent l goes to the MS headquarters in New York for research. But most of the money will be sent back for research at the Stanford Medical Center, Hines said.
"This is something that is extremely important, " Hines said. "People want to help. We are glad to have Linda on board."
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 17, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.