CHICAGO – There’s a common saying among people who have multiple sclerosis: If you’ve met one person with MS, you’ve met one person with MS.

Each person’s experience with the disease – from the age they got it to the way it has affected their body – is so unique, MS can’t be generalized. For some, MS simply leaves them feeling tired. Others are plagued by periodic difficulties in walking or thinking. Still others may lose permanent use of their arms and legs and become paralyzed.

Multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease that attacks the brain and spinal cord, can be as emotionally destructive as it can be physically damaging, said Gloria Crews-McAdoo, who started the “I CAN” MS support group in Chicago after her son was diagnosed with the disease.