Radio DJ joins 5,000 friends for multiple sclerosis at Rose Bowl

Los Angeles radio station 104.3 MYfm morning co-host Jillian Escoto has a personal reason for joining 5,000 people at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Greater Los Angeles chapter’s 2017 Walk MS Greater Los Angeles on Sunday morning, April 23, at the Pasadena Rose Bowl.

It was 2008 when Escoto was diagnosed with MS, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that interrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and body.

“I was 23 years old at the time and I had no idea what MS was or what it did to your body,” said Escoto, known today as the pop culture princess of the “Valentine in the Morning” show.

So, Escoto got support and information about MS from the National MS Society. Then, she formed a Walk MS team called “Team Jillian.”

“This year will be our ninth year and our largest Walk MS team ever with about 200 walkers,” she said. “I’m so excited to meet the many listeners who are joining our team. They want to find a cure as much as I do. At the same time, I’m very humbled because so many people come out and walk. Walk MS is a great event, and anybody can still join us.”

Registration begins at 7:45 a.m. Onsite registration is available at Lot “F,” 1001 Rose Bowl Dr., Pasadena. Opening ceremonies begin at 9:30 a.m. The walk begins at 10 a.m. The Walk route includes a choice of one mile or three miles around the perimeter of the Brookside Golf & Country Club along Rosemont Avenue. Both routes are 100 percent accessible and offer snacks and water at stationary rest stops.

Admission is free to attend Walk MS. Event information is available at www.WalkMS.org. Proceeds will benefit MS research and program and services for people with MS. Walkers will have the opportunity to earn prizes, including t-shirts, movie tickets and gift cards, based on the amount of donations they collect.

Live entertainment will include music from the Ocean Park Standoff and the Hornet Nation Band, along with warm-up exercises by celebrity personal fitness trainer Dion Jackson. Emcees will include NBC4’s Jonathan Gonzalez and Toni Guinyard.

Since 1988, Walk MS has been known for drawing a large number of teams representing businesses, neighborhoods, clubs, community groups, churches and family members and friends of a person with MS. Many teams come up with a team name and outfit their members with costumes, including T-shirts, hats or balloons.

Walk MS at the Rose Bowl is presented locally by Wells Fargo and Biogen. Additional local sponsors include MYfm 104.3-FM, Acorda, Southern California Gas Company, Bruce’s Gourmet Catering, Tapia Brothers Co., Beauty Bus Foundation, Mobility Works and Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. The National MS Society’s national Walk MS sponsors include Genentech, Novartis and Sanofi Genzyme.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Southern California and Nevada Chapter provides vital programs and direct services to more than 20,000 people living with MS and their loved ones who live in greater Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, the Central Valley and Nevada. The Chapter also funds cutting-edge research to stop MS in its tracks, restore function that has been lost, and end MS forever. Even though the progress, severity and specific symptoms cannot be predicted, the advances in research and treatment are moving us closer toward a world free of MS.

MS, the most common neurological disease leading to disability in young adults, is typically diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, although an estimated 8,000-to-10,000 children under the age of 18 also live with MS. Two to three times more women than men have been diagnosed with MS. An estimated 2.3 million people live with MS worldwide. MS symptoms can range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis, as well as blurred vision, loss of balance, poor coordination, slurred speech, tremors, numbness, extreme fatigue and cognitive deficits. Symptoms might be permanent, or they might come and go. By eating away at the coating that allows nerve cells to transmit messages, MS can lead to restrictive or awkward movements and mental gaps, among other problems. Studies indicate that genetic factors may make certain individuals more susceptible to the disease, but there is no evidence that MS is directly inherited.