Organizers of Saturday morning’s Columbia walk for neurofibromatosis (NF) hope to raise awareness about the genetic disorder.
Columbia resident Kristi Saylor has NF and tells 939 the Eagle that she and others with NF are trying to educate the community:
“Because it was one time I walked into the Jeff City library and this lady asked me about it and so I explained it. And then she made the comment well I guess if you can live with it, so can I. Like, I don’t know what to say to people like that,” says Saylor.
Ms. Saylor says the NF causes tumors to grow on the nervous system and that there’s no cure and no real treatment for it at this time. Walk organizers hope to raise about $20,000 on Saturday. More than four-million people across the globe have NF. Ms. Saylor tells 939 the Eagle their first walk was in 2019 and that they had a small turnout that year. She says interest has grown:
“I’ve met a lot of people just in this area that have NF. And that we had no idea. They had no idea that there was so much support. Because, they thought like me, they thought they were the only ones,” Ms. Saylor says.
Registration for Saturday’s walk begins at 9 at Stephens Lake park, with the walk beginning at 10. Ms. Saylor says they’ll also have a raffle and silent auction.