By Ryan Asdourian

Along with the rest of Seattle, I am so pumped about our hometown Seahawks but of course, it isn’t the only thing that has me excited these days.  Team Blitz is kicking off our 5th year and your support inspires and humbles me every day.  I’m thrilled to share early details about this year’s Pub Crawl (April 12th) and Walk MS (April 13th) events.
 
Here’s a few things you can do to get started:

• Sign up, raise money, or donate at www.BlitzTacklesMS.com – this is best way to spread the word and your first step in becoming a fundraiser.
• After joining, challenge yourself to raise $100 before Sunday’s NFC Championship game.
• Buy tickets to the pub crawl – www.BlitzTacklesMS.com/pubcrawl – We’re working on details, but if you’ve been before, you know it is a good time 
• Check out this fun story Microsoft recently published – http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/stories/people/ryan-asdourian.html – spoiler alert – it’s the only time I’ve ever been compared to a Gucci model
• Mark your calendars for April 12th and April 13th!

So who are we and why do we do what we do?
Team Blitz is dedicated to raising awareness and money for Multiple Sclerosis research and education.  In the US, more than 400,000 people, with a high prominence in the Northwest, are affected directly by MS.
 
I started Team Blitz five years ago, not knowing what it could become.  Since then, we’ve raised over $300,000 and now have a whole crew of volunteers (my awesome friends) that are preparing for our biggest events ever!
 
If you are new, thank you for reading this.  Thank you for becoming involved.  I was diagnosed a little over 5 years ago with MS.  It has been difficult at times to cope with, but I am incredibly lucky compared to other people I have met and how this disease affects their daily lives.  I also sit on the board for the MS Society and I work often with people that inspire me every day to keep moving us closer to the goal of finding a cure for MS.
 
The money that we raise together has impressive results and the MS Society has one of the lowest administration costs and uses the money to drive forward research, programs and help people in need.  When I was diagnosed, there were only 4 FDA approved drugs on the market.  There are now 10!  Our progress is encouraging, but it is still incremental – these drugs don’t cure the disease and can have painful side effects.
 
Together, at the end of the day, we do this because we care about people who struggle to sleep, find normal walking difficult and can’t live normal lives because of MS.  As always, thanks for your support, thank you for making a difference and thank you for helping me spread the word.
 
Go Hawks!