Rudy's Angels earn their Halos
By Helen Allrich
It's time to pull out the white pipe cleaners to make more halos. At least that's what senior Natalie Calderon will be doing during the next few weeks as she recruits friends and family to join her in the 2002 Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Walk.
Calderon started her team "Rudy's Angels" five years ago in honor of her father Rudy, who was diagnosed when she was 10-years-old with primary progressive multiple sclerosis, one type of MS in which the patient progressively grows weaker from the onset as the symptoms of the disease worsen.
"When I was younger he was the strongest man I knew," Calderon said. "Now he is incapable of doing even the slightest task on his own. He has deteriorated before my eyes and it really saddens me."
MS is a chronic disease that affects the central nervous system and is difficult to diagnose. Symptoms may be minor, such as numbness or slurred speech, or they can be severe, such as pain or even paralysis. MS is considered a "prime of life disease," affecting people between the ages of 21 and 50, with more than 200 new diagnoses every week.
Five years ago, walking down the hallway of Santa Clara High School, Calderon saw a poster for the annual MS Walk and registered with her best friend. She thought it was a great cause to get involved with since it directly affected her family.
"It was thrilling to do it for the first time," Calderon said, "and such an incredible experience that I knew I had to do it again."
Rudy's Angels grew from that team of two to last year's record-breaking team with more than 90 walkers participating, including many Santa Clara students, who raised a total of $5,408 for the Silicon Valley Chapter of the MS Society. They even won the "Best Costumes" award as they sported their blue T-shirts and heavenly white halos made of white pipe cleaners.
"It's incredible since the first year there was only one other girl," Calderon's mother Lou said. "I'm just so proud of her. She just really thrilled our family. Now this year she wants to do it even bigger."
Rudy's Angels joined hundreds of other walkers along the Los Gatos Creek Trail to support more than 3,000 local residents affected by MS in the Silicon Valley.
"The atmosphere on the day of the walk was so positive," senior Sonia Aguirre, one of Rudy's Angels, said. "There was so much unity and support for a good cause. Even people in wheelchairs were doing the walk."
Rudy participates in the MS Walk in his wheelchair. Watching her friends push the wheelchair when Lou was tired was one of Calderon's favorite memories.
"I am so thankful for all the support that I have," Calderon said.
Before he was in a wheelchair, Rudy worked as a scheduler in the planning department at Westinghouse in Sunnyvale, where he often rode his bike through the campus. Numbness on the right side of his body and a slight slur of speech were the first signs that something was wrong.
"We thought something was wrong with his heart and we were just left hanging," Lou said. "We just thought he'd be treated and be better. We never really thought it would be life long. It was a real unbelievable time."
After two years, Rudy received his MS diagnosis and eventually had to quit his job. He stayed at home working with a physical therapist as the disease slowly progressed.
Today, Rudy is bedridden. Although he does not yet need a feeding tube, Rudy struggles to feed himself, and has difficulty communicating with slurred speech and impaired cognitive functions.
"I do the MS Walk because I want to use my experience with MS in order to make others more aware of the disease, so that a cure can be found," Calderon said. "I believe that had there been better medication for MS 10 years ago, my dad would be a lot healthier than he is today."
To gain support and educate her friends and Santa Clara students, Calderon invited the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to Sobrato on Feb 27 for an informational meeting. The opening video featured stories of people affected by MS and captured the emotions of all those who attended.
"We appreciate the opportunity to teach people about MS," Jennifer Viane, a Santa Clara Alumna who works for the MS Society, said. "One of our goals is to educate the public in hopes of gaining support and finding a cure."
Founded in 1946, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is dedicated to ending the devastating affects of MS by supporting research efforts and providing clients with programs to help them live with MS. More than 300,000 Americans currently live with MS and although no cure has been found, new medications can help slow the course of disease by one third.
"I want to raise money to find a cure for MS, or to develop medications to slow down the process," Calderon said. "So that other kids won't have to go through the same horror I did - the horror of watching their fathers or mothers or someone that they love deteriorate before their eyes."
The 10K 2002 MS Walk takes place April 6 along the Los Gatos Creek Trail. If you are interested in volunteering, participating or joining Rudy's Angels, please visit www.nationalmssociety.org, call 1-800-FIGHT-MS or e-mail ncalderon@scu.edu for more information.