On May 6, 22-year-old Anna Austin of New Plymouth, Idaho, embarked on a 164-mile journey starting in Spanish Fork for a cause near and dear to her heart. The event is a cross-country relay called “MS Run the US,” where one person at a time runs approximately 150 miles (a marathon a day for six days) while raising funds and awareness for multiple sclerosis.
Austin, who is a college student in Eastern Idaho, said that she saw an opportunity pop up online about a charity that had volunteer opportunities. She said that it piqued her interest, but it wasn’t until a few months later when she decided to look a little further into it.
When she learned that it was a relay dedicated to bringing awareness to multiple sclerosis, she knew that she needed to apply for the opportunity. In recent years, Austin has experienced some unexplained symptoms that have opened her eyes to the MS world.
“When I was 15, I had a lot of health issues and I went to a lot of doctors,” she recalled. “I just couldn’t quite figure out what’s going on. I went to a doctor and he said that I might have MS, but since I was so young, he said he couldn’t give me a final diagnosis. I just remember sitting there in the doctor’s office and it’s kind of overwhelming when you get told something like that as a 15-year-old.”
Her symptoms included pain, numbness and tingling in her legs, followed by swelling and discoloration, as well as what she describes as “slowness” in her hands. And at the time, she was enjoying hiking and a newfound love of running, and explained the possible news as devastating.
“My life is running and hiking and anything active. I’m not one to sit around and play video games or even read books,” she said. “I was kinda devastated for a while. I didn’t get a final diagnosis and that was the hope that I held on to and I just promised myself that whatever my life looked like I would run for as long as I could.”
She said that her experience with her symptoms and not quite knowing what is going on with her body, caused her to have compassion for people with MS, and so when the opportunity came to bring awareness through running, she couldn’t pass it up.
“Going through that experience made me a lot more aware of the hard times and compassionate to them,” she said. “I now have a lot of friends and community members who struggle with multiple sclerosis, and I also have a family friend who passed away last year from MS. I wanted to find a way to help those who I care about if they are dealing with it now or if they have dealt with it in the past, as well as for 15-year-old me who was so scared.”
So, on May 6, Austin began her journey from Spanish Fork all the way to Vernal, running through the spring weather that is very much a part of Utah, all while working to raise $10,000 for MS research. She finished the journey in six days and was able to reach beyond her fundraising goal.
“There were lots of highs, lots of lows as you might expect, but I’m glad I did it,” she said. “I hope if nothing else, to raise some hope for, not just the individuals who struggle with MS, but also for their families because it affects more than just one person when they’re diagnosed. It’s a whole life change. You never quite know what each day is going to look like and it affects each individual so differently.”
With Austin’s leg done, the relay is continuing on all the way to New York City with 21 total runners going across the country. The relay is set to finish near the end of August. Donations are still being collected at msruntheus.org.
