On Thursday August 21, A&W restaurants across Canada will hold the 17the Edition of the meeting to stop the SP, an annual financing campaign in support of those who live with multiple sclerosis (SP). For each teen burger sold, the company will pay $ 2 to SP Canada to support the cutting edge search as well as the programs and services for people affected by this disease. Responsible for a SP group in the Thetford region, André Noël invites the population to follow suit.
For many years, he has taken his time, his energy and all his heart at the service of awareness of this neurological disease which no longer affects 22,000 Quebecers. Having received a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis over 40 years ago, it can testify to the importance of collecting funds to advance research.
“For example, in 1984, I founded a local section of the SP in Black Lake. We were giving a lot of money for research. Without claiming that this precise money is directly the cause, 15 years later, I benefited from treatments that improved my condition and that I would never have believed possible at the time. Research has advanced a lot over the years and it has to continue. When we collect funds, the impact may not be immediate, but it is very real, “he said in an interview with the Courrier Frontenac.
Aged 81, this mental health nurse by profession sees, in his role as manager of the local GRO group, a double mission: to contribute to the cause and provide concrete support to people affected by the disease. “I have always liked to help others. I worked in psychiatry and that’s what I was doing. I was head of department and, before that, I also managed groups of scouts. So I already had this predisposition. Receiving a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, it turns a life and families upside down. To bring together a group and see people have a good time together, it brings me a certain pride. I also find that it is valuing to be able to offer my support to others. There are things that I am no longer able to do, but that, I am capable of it, “said the man who was also president of the regrouping of physical disabled people in Thetford for several years.
The SP Thetford group, which currently has about fifteen members, meets each month in a different restaurant for a coffee-meeting favoring exchanges. It will of course be there on August 21 to support the cause.
Canada has one of the world’s highest multiple sclerosis rates in the world. On average, 12 people receive a diagnosis every day in the country. This neurological disease affects the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). Most of the diagnoses are made between 20 and 49 years. It is a continuous pathological process that evolves in several phases over time, each person experimenting with it in a unique way, with symptoms, a gravity and a response to variable treatment. The unpredictable, episodic and progressive nature of the SP makes it difficult to maintain a good quality of life.
Since its creation, the A&W meeting to stop the SP has raised more than $ 21.7 million. SP Canada is investing in research focused on improving treatments and care, strengthening well-being, understanding and raising the progression of multiple sclerosis, as well as the prevention of this disease.
