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About $1M Raised At This Year's 'Walk MS'

DENVER (CBS4) - Thousands filled Denver's City Park Saturday morning for the annual Walk MS.

CBS4 is a proud sponsor of the event that raises money for multiple sclerosis research. It also helps people living with MS live fuller lives.

"My team won the state championship in Cross Country," Beth Newsom said.

PHOTO GALLERY: Walk MS

Nineteen years ago Newsom was an accomplished athlete and elite runner until something changed.

"Two weeks later I woke up and my legs felt like your legs feel when they fall asleep," she said.

She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

"Over time gradually I started having to use a wheelchair and walker," Newsom said.

On Saturday she was one of the roughly 10,000 walkers in Denver's Walk MS. Emceed by CBS4's Karen Leigh the annual event challenges those to walk one to three miles around City Park.

"My goal is to walk as much as possible," she said.

Whether that be on foot, on walkers, or on wheels.

The walk raises research and money to help the roughly 100,000 in Colorado and Wyoming whose lives are affected by MS.

"We do the walk every year for my sister Ida and in memory of my sister Mabel," Rebecca Hernandez said.

For Newsom this year is special.

"With the bioness it's sending a trigger to your muscle," she said.

She credits a new drug for stopping her MS advancement for the last four years, helping her to get back on her feet.

"I'm walking and four years ago I was not walking."

And to those living and waiting for a cure for MS, Newsom's message is a simple but powerful one -- don't give up.

"I would just tell people -- just advice to never give up and do as much as you can for as long as you can," she said. "That's what I would say."

Organizers say this year's walk raised about $1 million.

LINK: MS Society

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