Shannon Cockwell, age 12, of St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, for her question:

WHAT IS MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS?

Multiple sclerosis is a disease that attacks the spinal cord and the brain. Small hard areas are found scattered throughout the white substance of the brain and spinal cord. The patches interfere with the normal functions of the nerve pathways.

Patients with multiple sclerosis, which is also called MS, may show such symptoms as sudden blindness in one eye and fleeting tingling and prickly sensations in the legs. There also can be an unsteady walk or balance and stiff muscles. Jerky movements of the legs develop in the acute phase.

MS may last many years with normal periods of health followed by a show of symptoms that get progressively worse. Research is continuing in our war against MS. Unfortunately, the cause of the disease is not known and as yet no cure for it has been found.