The 8th annual Multiple Sclerosis Walk in Jackson is still a month away but some members of the community have already started pounding the pavement for MS research.

Kathy Rehkopf of Chaffee is a member of Bender's Angels, a group of people who participate in the MS walk in Cape Girardean Tim Bender's name. Rehkopf said the Angels will kick off their annual fund-raising efforts on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, with yard sales, barbecues and solicitations from local businesses.

"We incite them to be a part of the Bender's Angels group," Rehkopf said. "This particular group of people inspire each other and even strangers to be better people and to be more charitable.

"This kind of thing minimizes your own trouble, or what you think of every day as problems."

The first time Rehkopf participated in the MS walk she hand-painted T-shirts depicting the four or five people who were members of Bender's Bus at that time. Last year, with the group growing to 53, she simply made a line of happy faces, with halos over their heads, in tennis shoes trailing off to the horizon.

Last year's Angels collected $5,000 for MS research and community aid, Rehkopf said, and they're planning on surpassing that mark this year.

Many of the 3,860 people in the area who are afflicted with multiple sclerosis will not be able to participate directly in the event, which is held at 12:30 p.m. April 13 in Jackson City Park.

Last year more than 300 people took part and raised almost $17,000, Mary Meyer, walk co-coordinator said. Much of that went to local families to help deal with the expense of caring for a family member afflicted with the disease. The rest went for research.

The walk is the biggest money raiser for the local MS society, Meyer said. Meyer said she started the walk in 1990 after participating in the St. Louis MS benefit walk in 1989.

Bender, 51, was diagnosed with MS seven years ago. Since then he has been active in raising awareness and money through the walk.

"It's just a devastating disease," he said. "But they're making advances every day."

Bender said MS doesn't just affect an individual but involves that person's entire family. In his case, he needs more time and help from his wife .

"I require quite a bit of help," he said. "That puts a burden on my wife. What's really frustrating about it is when you can't do something that you used to be able to do."

Bender said he submitted to a battery of tests, including two painful spinal taps, over a 6-month period before doctors at the Mayo Clinic diagnosed him.

A protective sheath that insulates and helps nerve transmission in healthy people is damaged in those afflicted with MS. Scar tissue and inflexibility of the sheath causes damage in multiple areas of normal function. MS can cause fatigue and a reduction in movement, sensation, vision and control of bladder or bowel function.

The severity of the condition varies from person to person. About 20 percent of those afflicted will have a few mild attacks and minimal disability for many years. The most typical way the disease acts is through a series of attacks in the first five to seven years with a gradual increase in disability over years and decades.

MS affects 250,000 to 350,000 Americans.

Some drugs reduce the number of attacks and the severity of impairment. Research is continuing on ways of altering the body's immune response to fight the disease.

"I truly believe they will find a cure for it someday," Bender said. "They're so close."