D.J. Uses Mic, Bike To Fight MS It was a simple phone call and a simple request. “I’m signing up for the Walk MS this year. Why don’t you make a donation?”
“I was just trying to get him to donate,” Bingen says. “It was just so much more than I had ever expected. Jimmy made me feel very special that year.” Bingen, who has lived with multiple sclerosis since 1990, is well-acquainted with her brother’s tendency to go above and beyond. So it is not surprising how he responded a few years later when she casually mentioned, “You know they have a Bike MS Ride in Connecticut, too.” That's how Jimmy Lehn — or “Jimmy “Lane” as he’s known to listeners of the WCTY morning show — came to be standing in his local bike shop, looking around at the array of choices and feeling very confused.
“I had no idea what to buy … but eventually I ended up buying a mountain bike,” says Lehn. “I found out later it was completely the wrong kind of bike for the ride.” That was in 2002. These days Lehn has all the right gear — including a Fuji Roubaix road bike — and is an avid year-round cyclist. The radio station where he’s been on-air for the past nine years, WTCY 97.7 out of Norwich, Conn., is once again a media sponsor for the two-day Bike MS: Mohegan Sun Ride 2008, presented by Cardio Express. The ride takes place Saturday, Sept. 27, and Sunday, Sept. 28, starting and finishing at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn. More than 400,000 people in the United States live with multiple sclerosis, 6,000 of those in Connecticut. MS is a chronic and often disabling disease of the central nervous system. There currently is no cure. Symptoms can include, among other things, numbness in the limbs, difficulties with vision and speech, stiffness and, in some more severe cases, total paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot be predicted. For Bingen, the symptoms of multiple sclerosis began about 18 years ago with numbness in her left arm. At first she thought it was carpal tunnel syndrome, but her physician recognized this as a possible sign of MS. Bingen considers herself one of the lucky few for receiving a diagnosis so quickly. The often baffling symptoms of MS mean that many people live for years before being diagnosed. Bingen, who is married with two children — Alexa, 12, and Rick, 15 — has what’s known as relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. This means she can have long periods of relatively mild symptoms, punctuated by significant relapses. Lehn’s devotion to helping find a cure for multiple sclerosis has led him down his own path in life. His involvement in the MS ride unlocked a passion for the sport, and Lehn is now a year-round cyclist who regularly goes for 60- to 100-mile rides and is a member of the Pequot Cyclists club based in Eastern Connecticut. “It’s somewhat ironic, the fact that what I’ve done because of my sister’s MS, riding a lot like I do now, has actually made me a healthier person,” he says. “But for her, it’s just living day to day.” To learn more about multiple sclerosis, its effects, and programs and services offered by the chapter to those living with the disease, please e-mail programs@ctfightsMS.org or go to http://www.ctfightsms.org/. NOTE TO MEDIA |
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