MSA Trust 25 Heroes for 25 Years
By Karen Walker, CEO of the MSA Trust
Today we launch MSA Awareness week during a very special year for Multiple System Atrophy Trust. In May 2022, we will celebrate our 25th Anniversary. Our Awareness Week will once again try to highlight the effects this terrible disease can have on people affected MSA and their loved ones. Please share, repost, retweet as much as you can throughout the week.
25 heroes for 25 years
As part of our acknowledgement of 25 years of work within the charity we want to share with you our 25 heroes for 25 years. We have had some incredible heroes who have meant a great deal to us. Over the next 25 weeks we will highlight one of these heroes, or sometimes a group of heroes, that deserve our thanks for their support, their guidance, their sheer gutsiness in the face of difficulty, raising awareness for MSA and supporting people and their families. So, check back on social media every week for a new hero to applaud.
Sarah Matheson
The MSA Trust began it’s life as the Autonomic Disorders Association, Trust. ADASMT for short, but it was quite a mouthful and didn’t entirely reflect the condition it was trying to support. In 2010 the Trustees made the decision to change the name to that of the disease itself, so the MSA Trust came into being.
However, back to the beginning where it all started in a living room in South London. Our Founder, Sarah Matheson, held a meeting to discuss forming a charity to provide information and connect people to others who were experiencing what life was like with MSA. Sarah was just 55 when she received her diagnosis of Multiple System Atrophy and her first thought was “where do I find any information on this disease”? After some searching she came to the conclusion there was none available – this was 1993 after all.
Sarah rallied her friends and approached people who might be able to help with funding and set up the charity in 1997. Sadly, Sarah passed away from MSA in 1999.
Today the MS Trust continues in her memory to provide information and support to everyone affected by MSA, so Sarah is our first hero in our 25 heroes for 25 years.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the blogs published on these pages are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the MSA Trust.
