WESTERN SPRINGS – The fight against multiple sclerosis is personal for Western Springs resident Ginny Grecco. Her husband, Bob Grecco, has been living with the disease for nearly 10 years, so Ginny's passion is to raise as much money as possible for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Greater Illinois Chapter during the annual Walk MS.

The Greccos' team, “Team Gub,” raised nearly $18,000 for this year’s walk, which was May 1. The team, which has about 50 people, participated in the Naperville walk.

Ginny said this year’s amount is the most money they’ve raised in the past nine years they’ve been doing the walk, and she was pleased more than 100 friends and family members donated to the cause. Ginny said she sends out an email every year to as many people as she can.

“Our friends are very generous, and it feels pretty cool that these people really care. It seems like everybody knows someone with MS,” said Ginny, who is the team captain. “We’ve been really lucky with fundraisers, and I’d like to see a cure and to raise awareness. Something’s causing this, and we don’t know what it is.”

For Bob, who doesn’t usually participate in the walk but makes sure he cheers on his team from the sidelines, finding a cure is something he’s also hoping to see in his lifetime.

“We’re getting ever closer, and I want to raise money for research,” he said. “It’s very gratifying that my friends are trying to help. It’s great.”

Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information between the brain and body. Symptoms include numbness and tingling, vision problems and leg fatigue. MS affects two to three times more women than men, and the median age of diagnosis is the late 20s.

Jeremy Barewin, vice president of marketing for the National MS Society, Greater Illinois Chapter, said despite the symptoms, patients can still live a full life.

“MS isn’t fatal, but it can cause quality of life issues, like losing vision or mobility,” he explained. “MS can be a devastating diagnosis at first, if you don’t know much about it. But speaking to a neurologist and learning about the treatments can put things into perspective. MS can be very manageable.”

Bob, 60, was diagnosed on July 12, 2006, after feeling leg fatigue for some time. Once he visited a neurologist, the doctor knew right away what was causing the problem. Bob can still walk, but he tires easily and sometimes uses a wheelchair if he’s in a situation that requires a lot of walking. Recently, he’s been experiencing some vision problems and said he takes each day “as it comes.”

“My quality of life could be better, but I don’t dwell on it,” Bob said. “I don’t let it take over my life because it can. I’m not depressed and still work every day. It’s not easy to drag myself out of bed sometimes, but I do it. Some days are better than others.”

Ginny said the MS society has a lot of resources to help patients, and once she learned about the walk, she was determined to do her part to help raise money.

“Now we know a lot of people with MS who are dear to us, and we’ve seen all stages [of the disease],” she said. “It can be devastating for some. It’s a tough disease. There are several people in our church and in our neighborhood who have it.”

In fact, Ginny and Team Gub have raised so much money that the Greccos were invited to the National MS Society’s leadership conference in fall 2015 in Ft. Worth, Texas. Bob said people who raise a significant amount of money are invited to attend. Last year, the team raised about $15,000, and while the couple hasn’t added up all the money it's raised over the years, Bob believes it’s more than $100,000.

“I raise the most on our team,” Ginny said. “I feel like I’m making a difference. The money certainly helps, but it’s also about awareness. I do feel like I’m helping to fund research for a cure.”