Speedskating-online

On June 12-13 several Canadian speed skaters will once again participate in the MS Bike Tour, a two-day 180-km trip from Airdrie to Olds and back, to help build more awareness of Multiple Sclerosis and to raise as much money as possible for MS research. They will do so as members of Team Tazza, and among them will be Denny Morrison, Olympic gold-medalist at the Vancouver Games last February. Morrison got involved in the Bike Tour when his good friend and fellow-speed skater Crystal Phillips was diagnosed with MS a few years ago and organized her first MS Bike Tour team in 2006. After solely focusing on his speed skating for such a long time because of the Olympics, Morrison now feels it’s time to give something back by urging people to donate to this cause.

By Jolanda Abbes

Despite some setbacks during the past season and some highs and lows at the Olympic Games in February, Denny Morrison did manage to take home an Olympic gold medal from those same Games in its very last speed skating event: the Team Pursuit. Together with teammates Lucas Makowsky and Mathieu Giroux, Morrison beat Team USA by 0.21 seconds in an exciting final. “The past season indeed had a lot of ups and downs throughout, including during the Olympics, but ultimately culminated with that Olympic gold medal in the Team Pursuit.” Now that the Olympic season is over, Morrison has been enjoying a well-deserved break from speed skating and succeeded in finding other ways to spend his time, including a planned return to the MS Bike Tour on June 12-13.

Morrison got involved in the Bike Tour for the first time back in 2006, when his longtime friend Crystal Phillips was diagnosed with MS, and only a few months after this diagnosis decided to start organizing a team for the Tour to help raise money for MS research. Morrison reflects: “I've known Crystal through speed skating since we were about 8 years old. She's always been a fast speed skater and we often shared podiums as the male and female winners of our age class at competitions growing up. I was out of town when I first heard Crystal was diagnosed with MS and called her to support her in any way that I could. Crystal's attitude right from the start was positive and hopeful, and when she started rallying the troops to form a team to raise money for MS research by riding in the MS Bike Tour, I was the first in line.” Consequently, he was part of Phillips’ team in the first two years of its existence: “I participated in 2006 and 2007 raising over $1,000 for each ride, and was very proud to be a part of Crystal's team which raised over $50,000 in its first year. I always look forward to doing the MS Bike Tour each summer and am anxious to participate again in this year’s Tour.”

Phillips looks back on some life-changing years. After she had her first ‘attack’ in June 2005, at the young age of 19, she was officially diagnosed with MS in February 2006. MS is a disease of the central nervous system that affects vision, hearing, memory, balance and mobility. After 2006, Phillips slowly seemed to overcome MS but lately she has been troubled by some health issues again. However, change in her situation may be just around the corner, with a very important new breakthrough discovery in MS called CCSVI, discovered by Dr. Paolo Zamboni, a former vascular surgeon and professor at the University of Ferrara in northern Italy. All of Team Tazza's funds raised this year will be directed towards further research into this discovery. Phillips: “So far the Liberation Treatment (not yet performed in Canada) has shown incredibly positive results around the world. In fact, Kuwait will be treating all 6000 of their MS patients with the Liberation Treatment in the next year through their public health care system! This is not yet proven to be a cure, however, and much more studies need to be carried out. This is why funding is needed more than ever, to help speed up the process of getting the CCSVI studies and the Liberation Treatment performed in Canada to help the thousands of Canadian MS sufferers.”

After seeing how Phillips’ life was affected by MS, Morrison did not have to think twice about participating in the Bike Tour: “After having witnessed how MS can affect the life of an individual in such a way, and considering how well Crystal handled the situations that it put her in, I was inspired to participate. Besides, it's a lot of fun too!” And that indeed the fun along the way is of importance as well, shows his description of his very first Tour: “We biked into a head wind 95% of the way from Airdrie to Olds, but we were able to stop several times for food and drinks along the way. It was a fun day because we all just took our time and made it a good social bike ride. In Olds, Crystal and myself and anyone else who raised over $1,000 was given VIP treatment, including a mock casino for prizes, draws, games, food, drinks and more. It was quite the fun night, and we all stayed the night in the dorms on campus to rest up for the ride home on day 2. Day 2 started off a little more fatigued, but luckily the head wind was now a tail wind, so it was a very easy ride back to Airdrie, where we were provided with a true Albertan beef barbeque!” Other favourite memories of the Tour include Phillips’ Team Tazza Cheer: “Crystal does a ‘honk, honk’, followed by a double ponytail whip. It’s quite impressive!”

For his first year on the Tour, Morrison set himself a goal of raising $1,000, and for his second year he raised the bar to $1,200, and both goals were easily met. Now, after having missed the 2008 and 2009 Tours “while selfishly preparing for the 2010 Olympics”, as he puts it on his personal fundraising page, Morrison feels it’s time to make up for his missed Tours, and has raised the bar yet again, to $3,000. “An Olympic gold medal is something which I am very proud of, but something which I would have never achieved without the support and sacrifices of so many people around me. I feel it is now my responsibility to give something back. To share my Olympic medal, my Olympic story, and my Olympic experiences with as many people around me as possible. If I can inspire someone to dream big and believe in the goals that they've set, I know they will achieve them. Let’s make a cure for MS our big goal! Just as with my Olympic medal, a cure for MS would be impossibly hard to achieve without the support of many people. Donating is the EASY way to help out! I'm putting in an extra effort this year to make up for my missed Tours and I hope you will show extra support too! And if you donate over $100, I'll let you touch the Olympic gold medal! However, if you really want to have an impact, join the Tour! You will be doing something healthy for yourself while at the same time supporting a really great cause.”

And to underline that he’s not kidding about getting to hold an actual Olympic gold medal for a $100 donation, Morrison adds: “I will email these people to see if they are really interested in seeing the medal and if so, find out where they are located and organize a good time and place to meet. Either when I am in their neighbourhood or they are in mine. Like anything, you just make it happen if you try hard enough.”

To date, Team Tazza has already raised around a quarter of a million dollars, and since 90% of the money for researching MS comes from pledges and donations in events such as the MS Bike Tour, it is important that people continue to donate to events like this. And now more than ever, funding is needed to help speed up research into CCSVI and the Liberation Treatment. And who knows… Make a significant enough donation to research that is so close to discovering a cure for MS, and you may end up holding an actual Olympic gold medal along the way!

Interested in helping Denny Morrison reach his goal of raising $3,000? Click here for his personal fundraising page.

To keep informed on new research going on in MS and events put on by Team Tazza, click here.

For more information on the Liberation Treatment, click here.

For more information on the MS Society of Canada, Calgary Chapter, click here.

Photo credits:

Photo 1: MS Bike Tour 2009, submitted by Crystal Phillips

Photo 2: North American Age Class Championships, Red Deer, 1997 (short track), submitted by Crystal Phillips

Photo 3: MS Bike Tour 2007, submitted by Denny Morrison

Photo 4: Olympic gold medal Team Pursuit, Vancouver 2010, submitted by Julie Morrison