WHEREAS,  multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease of the central nervous system affecting 2,300,000 people worldwide; and

WHEREAS,  the National Multiple Sclerosis Society - Greater New England Chapter reports that in Maine more than 3,000 people are living with multiple sclerosis, that the disease generally strikes people between ages 20 to 50 and that the cause and course of the often debilitating symptoms of multiple sclerosis remain unknown with no cure currently existing; and

WHEREAS,  the National Multiple Sclerosis Society has been committed for more than 70 years to a world free of multiple sclerosis, and the society raises public knowledge about and insight into the disease; and

WHEREAS,  since 1946 the National Multiple Sclerosis Society has been a driving force in multiple sclerosis research, pursuing prevention, treatments and a cure, and has invested more than $900,000,000 in groundbreaking research; and

WHEREAS,  funds raised through the National Multiple Sclerosis Society include $42,100,000 in funding for 380 research projects at medical centers, universities and other institutions throughout the United States and abroad, leading to many breakthroughs in the treatment of multiple sclerosis; and

WHEREAS,  stopping the progress of multiple sclerosis, restoring what has been lost and ending multiple sclerosis forever is the mission of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and one that all should support; now, therefore, be it