Bainbridge Island and Kitsap Peninsula residents will walk April 14 to raise awareness and research money for the effort to defeat multiple sclerosis. Walk MS events are scheduled at Bainbridge Island High School and at Klahowya Secondary School in Silverdale. Both events start at 9 a.m. with registration, followed by a program at 9:30 a.m. and the walk at 10 a.m.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. It usually affects people between the ages of 20 and 50 with varied and unpredictable symptoms including fatigue, numbness, loss of balance, vision problems and paralysis. There is no cure for MS, but better treatments over the years are helping people live with and manage the disease.

In the Puget Sound area, some 10,000 people are expected to come together to raise funds and celebrate hope for a world free of MS. The fundraising goal in this region is $1.87 million.

“Research is bringing better and better treatments and pushing us that much closer to a cure,” chapter President Patty Shepherd-Barnes said. To be a donor or walker, call (800) 344-4867, visit www.walkmsnorthwest.org, or show up on April 14.