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

WHEREAS,  the Greater New England Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society reports that more than 3,000 people are living with MS in the State and that the disease generally strikes people in the prime of life, between 20 and 50 years of age, and the cause and course of the often debilitating symptoms of MS remain unknown and no cure currently exists; and

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

WHEREAS,  since 1946 the National Multiple Sclerosis Society has been a driving force of MS research, relentlessly 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 provide $42,100,000 in funding for 380 research projects at the best medical centers, universities and other institutions throughout the United States and abroad, leading to many breakthroughs in the treatment of MS; and

WHEREAS,  stopping MS in its tracks, restoring what has been lost and ending MS forever is the mission of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and one that all Americans and citizens of the State should support; now, therefore, be it