René Westerfeld, a multiple sclerosis (MS) sufferer, will be skydiving this coming Saturday at Wonderboom airport to create awareness of this debilitating disease.
René, who has been a Roodepoort resident for the past 45 years used to be a member of the St John Ambulance Division in Witpoortjie. She worked as a volunteer at the Roodepoort Emergency Services for 20 years. René had to stop working when the MS symptoms got too severe.
“I know my journey to diagnosis was a long and hard struggle as MS often is missed and because it has relapse periods people often do not see a doctor in time. My symptoms were mistaken mostly for back problems due to the nature of my work in the Emergency Services that required lots of bending and lifting patients,” said René.
“I would like to spread more awareness and at the same time raise some funds towards the care of MS sufferers and possibly for some research,” she said.
MS is a chronic degenerative disease that affects the brain and the spinal cord, and attacks the myelin sheaths – the insulation fibres around the nervesn – leaving multiple scars. This means the body and the brain cannot communicate well, resulting in loss of movement, problems with vision and memory, fatigue and pain among many others. There is no cure for MS.
René hopes her brave deed will raise awareness as well as funds for the MS Association.
To support her, sms the word ORANGE to 41000. It costs R25 per sms.
