Whether it’s a casual acquaintance or a close friend, it’s always a happy surprise for Bob and Ginny Grecco of Western Springs to see who turns out for Walk: MS, an annual event at which they’ve raised thousands of dollars to fight multiple sclerosis.
The surprises keep coming as the team organized by the Greccos to take part in the stroll along Naperville’s Riverwalk has grown from just themselves and their two daughters nine years ago to a group of 40 or 50.
“We have family, friends, dear friends and acquaintances. It’s a hodge podge,” said Ginny. “I send out a bulk email and ask people to jour our team, or donate, or do both.”
“I’m always amazed at the people who show up,” said Bob. “Some can’t come one year, but then others come along who I don’t expect.”
That email Ginny sends has done the job. Team GUB, which stands for Great Uncle Bob, earned about $18,000 at this year’s May 1 walk to support research into a cure and treatments. At the 2015 walk, the team raised about $12,000. The money goes to the National MS Society.
The Greccos, who’ve been married 36 years, got involved after Bob, 60, was diagnosed in 2006 with multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects the central nervous system and causes problems with walking and other challenges.
“Everything takes longer,” Bob said about the effects of the disease. “There’s pain, vision issues and its difficult to walk.”
While Bob doesn’t walk in the event, he stakes out a tent and chairs where the team gathers before and after the walk. As the years have ticked by, the family, including their daughters Georgann Grecco, 30, and Kathleen Grecco, 26, have gotten even more involved. Georgann, a music teacher, now sings the national anthem to kick it off.
With 10 years of coping with the illness under his belt, Bob, who works as an accountant, said there are hopeful signs in the fight against the disease. When he was first diagnosed there were only a few drugs to address the symptoms and to slow the disease’s progression, he said.
“Now there is new stuff all the time,” he said. “Now there are 15 to 20 drugs.”
Ginny said taking part in the walk helps them feel like they are doing something to help not just themselves, but anyone who may ever have to battle MS.
“We don’t have control over this illness,” she said. “But it makes feel like we, as a couple, are doing something to find a cure — maybe not in our lifetime, but in the next.”
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