MS Groups to Raise Funds at 3 O.C. Walks

Just by taking a Sunday morning walk, about 3,000 people will help fight multiple sclerosis this weekend.

MS groups nationwide will hold their annual 15-kilometer fund-raising walks Sunday.

Among the locations are three in Orange County: Huntington Beach, from Bolsa Chica State Beach to Beach Boulevard and back; Newport Beach, from Newport Dunes around Backbay Drive and back; Placentia, from Tri City Park to Craig Regional Park and back.

Registration is at 7:30 a.m., and the walks begin at 8:30 a.m.

Walkers will donate money and solicit pledges, with the proceeds going to research MS, an autoimmune disease in which messages from the brain get short-circuited, causing numbness, paralysis and blindness, said Tara Keithley, development director of the Orange County MS Society.

The disease most often strikes people 20 to 40 years old. Attacks can recur throughout a lifetime, she said.

The Orange County chapter hopes to raise $300,000 this year, compared with $216,000 last year.

It is aiming for $1 million in Los Angeles and Orange counties combined, officials said.

Information: (714) 752-1680 or (800) FIGHT MS.