Ordinarily Jane Jones' limbs feel heavy and numb. Through the day, the Qulin woman uses a wheelchair to get around. Lifting a pot of soup is an exhausting chore, if not impossible. During the night, her leg muscles cramp so bad, she often has to wake her husband so he can massage her calves. 

But three times a week, Jones stands up, steps away from her chair and walks. No pain. No numbness. No heaviness.

Three times a week, Jones is independent and free... buoyant by the pool water and balanced by a physical therapist.

Jones, along with an estimated 400,000 Americans, has multiple sclerosis -- a chronic, often disabling, disease that randomly attacks the central nervous system. Symptoms may be mid such as numbness or tingling in the limbs or severe such as paralysis or loss of vision. An unpredictable disease, the symptoms vary from person to person, and vary over time in the same person.

Periods of active MS symptoms are called attacks or relapses. These can be followed by quiet periods called remissions. Because the disease often comes and goes, diagnosing MS is often difficult.

The disease ranges from very mild and intermittent to steadily progressive. Some people have few attacks and little, if any, disability accumulating over time. At diagnosis, most people have relapsing-remitting disease. This means they have attacks followed by periods of partial or total remission, which may last months or even years. Others experience a progressive disease course with steadily worsening symptoms. The disease may worsen steadily from the onset (primary progressive MS) or may become progressive after a relapsing-remitting course (secondary-progressive MS).

Though there is no cure for MS at this time, there are medications to treat its symptoms and slow the disease's onset. Sadly, MS usually strikes people in the prime of their lives, between the ages of 20 and 50. About two-thirds of people with MS are women.

Ann Eggers, of Poplar Bluff, is one of those women with MS. Through she wasn't diagnosed until 1997, she started showing signs of MS back in 1990.  

"I had numbness on the left side of my body," she said. "After CAT scans and MRIs, it was determined that I had a mini-stroke."

Of course, Eggers didn't have a stroke. However, because of the unpredictable symptoms associated with MS, and its seemingly random attacks -- the disease is usually difficult to diagnose. So when the numbness in Eggers' body subsided after a few weeks, the incident eventually slipped to the back of her mind. Then almost two years later, she began experiencing double vision. This time she was diagnosed with eye-strain. It wasn't until Eggers' right side when numb that she started meeting with neurologists (it actually took a couple different doctors before she was properly diagnosed). 

Today, Eggers works full-time, is a devoted wife and mother, and somehow manages to find the time and energy to be an advocate for the MS Society, as well as chair the upcoming 2004 MS Walk in Poplar Bluff. She gets around fairly well, without the aide of a wheelchair or walker. By all appearances, her MS is barely noticeable... if at all.

"I know you can't tell I have MS just by looking at me. I am very fortunate that I am doing so well," Eggers said. "The reason I do the MS Walk is because, while I'm able, I've got to do everything I can to help others."