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NBC 30 Anchor Named Mistress of Ceremonies

PLANTSVILLE, Conn. Author and adventurer Wendy Booker has been named this year’s keynote speaker for the annual NBC 30 Women Against MS luncheon Friday, Oct. 17. NBC 30 weekend morning news anchor Anjuli Porter has been named mistress of ceremonies.

Anjuli Porter
Anjuli Porter
A self proclaimed “soccer mom,” Wendy Booker’s life turned upside down then, just as quickly, right side up when she learned in 1998 she had multiple sclerosis (MS), a potentially debilitating autoimmune disease.

Booker, then 44 and the married mother of three, was a typical mom balancing the demands of a career in interior design and the needs of her growing family. Her diagnosis,

NBC 30 Women Against MS Luncheon logo
although devastating at first, served only to catapult her from ordinary bystander to passionate enthusiast. A onetime jogger, she began to train relentlessly for marathons, including Chicago, Boston, New York and the Marine Corps Marathon. Unwilling to give into unpredictable and sometimes baffling symptoms, she charted a course to overcome a course that later led her to mountaineering and the Seven Summits, the seven mountains on the seven continents. Mountains include Kilimanjaro, a summit of Africa; Denali, a summit of North America; Elbrus, a summit of Europe; Aconcagua, a summit of South America; Carstensz Pyramid, a summit of Oceania; Vinson, a summit of Antarctica; and Everest, a summit of Asia and the world.

Booker, now 53, has scaled five of the Seven Summits, enabling her to share mountaintop experiences with others offering a perspective derived from tenacity, grit and a driving desire to overcome obstacles. Booker will share her amazing story and personal account of life lived in the face of MS at the NBC 30 Women Against MS (WAMS) luncheon to be held the Aqua Turf in Plantsville, Conn., Friday, Oct. 17.

According to statistics, three times as many women are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis as are men. As a result, women across the nation now come together annually, state by state and chapter by chapter, to learn, through inspirational personal accounts, about the devastating effects and the latest advancements in care. These same women, dedicated to joining the fight against MS, raise critically-needed funds to ensure continued scientific research to find a cure. The dynamic groups of women are known as Women Against MS or WAMS.

Anjuli Porter joined the NBC 30 news team in June of 2007. Before coming to Connecticut, Porter served as a reporter and anchor for KVBC in Las Vegas where she contributed to numerous Emmy award-winning newscasts. Porter competed in the Miss America Scholarship Organization before graduating from Arkansas State University with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism. After graduation, she completed post-graduate studies in Cuernavaca, Mexico at Cuauhn?huac I.S.L.S. When she’s not covering the news, Porter loves singing jazz, traveling, cooking and sightseeing with her dog, Violet. This is the second year NBC 30 has partnered with the National MS Society, Connecticut Chapter as title sponsor for its Women Against MS event.

The NBC 30 WAMS Luncheon will be held on Friday, Oct. 17, at the Aqua Turf in Plantsville, Conn., at noon. Funds raised through Connecticut Chapter events, such as WAMS luncheons, ensure ongoing scientific research to find a cure and provide for vital programs offered by the chapter to the more than 6,000 Connecticut residents diagnosed with MS. For more information on attending the WAMS luncheon, please contact Kara Preston, associate vice president of development, at 860-714-2300, ext. 233.

NOTE TO MEDIA
For More Information
Contact Karen Butler
Vice President of Communications
Phone: 860.714.2300, ext. 230
kbutler@ctfightsMS.org

 

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