Recent research on Multiple Sclerosis has been enthusiastic, active, and somewhat random.
Art Mellor is an Arlington, MA resident whose response to receiving a diagnosis of MS has been to build an organized framework for this research, with the goal of curing MS by determining its cause.
The remarkable organization Art founded in 2001 has grown into a national non-profit with a name to match its goal: Accelerated Cure Project, which aims to accelerate the process of MS research in two ways:
With a large-scale, multidisciplinary Repository of blood samples and data from people with MS and matched controls.
Who is organizing these concerts, and why does this subject matter so much to me? I'm Marion Leeds Carroll, a former opera singer and stage director. I was diagnosed with MS in 1988, and am now using a cane full-time. But I can recognize and support a good idea when I see it. And I can still organize a concert - and, if my health permits, sing a song on the program.
Past concerts have featured arias, art songs, and classical vocal ensembles, as well as Gilbert and Sullivan scenes, a children's chorus, and other instrumentalists.
The 2009 concert, newly named Music to Cure MS, featured instrumental as well as vocal music, and we expect more in 2010.
