"Mountaineer and Competitive Runner Wendy Booker: Tackling Multiple Sclerosis with Mountains and Marathons"
Wendy Booker’s energy seems endless – it takes more than running marathons, scaling the "Seven Summits," and multiple sclerosis (MS) to tame her drive for success.
In June of 1998, the mother of three was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) after experiencing balance problems, blurred vision and numbness on her left side. Upon being diagnosed, Wendy never thought she was within 10 years of becoming one of less than 30 women in the world to have scaled the "Seven Summits," the collective term for the highest mountain on each continent.
With her sights set high, Wendy committed to a healthy diet, exercise and COPAXONE® (glatiramer acetate injection) in an effort to one day complete her conquest with the summit of Mt. Everest, the highest mountain in the world. With the culmination of this 29,035-foot climb, in addition to her many other accomplishments, Wendy will have shown others how resilient a person with MS can be. Despite the fact that the average mountain climber is generally a male in his thirties, Wendy believes that by leading through example, she may eventually inspire others to also meet their own obstacles head on.
In 2004, on her second attempt, Wendy became the first woman with MS to ever conquer the 20,320-foot summit of Mt. McKinley, also known as Denali, and proved to the world that her disease would not keep her from living her dreams. Wendy relates her experience of scaling Mt. McKinley, saying that it typified her experience with MS; "it’s hard, it’s steep, it’s scary, we don’t always get to the top (and sometimes) we have to do things more than once."
To date, Wendy has scaled Mt. McKinley in Alaska (2004), Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa (2005), Mt. Elbrus in Russia (2006), Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina (2007), Mt. Vinson Massif in Antarctica (2008) and Mt. Kosciusko in Australia (2008). She hopes to complete her mission of the seven summits in 2009 with Mt. Everest. Since her diagnosis, Wendy has also participated in nine marathons, including the Boston Marathon, Marine Corps Marathon, Chicago Marathon and New York Marathon. She has also served as captain of the Marathon Strides Against MS team for the Boston-Area National MS Society.
Today, Wendy adds the title of inspirational speaker to her list of accomplishments. She travels frequently to share her personal story with others living with MS. She is a testament to the power of positive attitude and determination.
Although individual results may vary, Wendy states that, "Staying committed to a therapy has enabled me to continue living my life as I want, and I am looking forward to an interesting and rewarding future." She explains that MS is "different in everybody and it’s unpredictable; which is the difficult part…my goal, is to stay on COPAXONE® and continue to fight this disease."
Team COPAXONE®
Wendy is sponsored in part by Teva Neuroscience as a member of Team COPAXONE®. Wendy is just one example of someone who is living with RRMS and pursuing her dreams. Team COPAXONE® celebrates the accomplishments of people, such as Wendy, who refuse to let MS stand in their way. Members are working to change the perceptions that society holds of people living with MS.
Advances in Medicine
Continuing research has led to treatments that can modify the immune processes thought to be responsible for RRMS. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved drugs for RRMS, such as COPAXONE® (glatiramer acetate injection).
Call 1-800-887-8100 for more information about COPAXONE®, Team COPAXONE®, or multiple sclerosis.
097005402/090436