Fundraisers of the month – March

Mum of four, Jen Pease, and best friend Kristen Wingate, have raised around £41,000 ($55,000) already by running marathons and plan to complete the final two World Marathon Majors running to raise money for MS.

The girls, from Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, always raised money for charity and love running for a cause. They began raising funds for local cancer patients and took part in events such as pickleball and raffles.

‘It has always felt amazing to raise money through our running, knowing the funds would help individuals in need,’ said Jen.

However, Jen’s journey took on a new purpose when her entire body started to go numb over the course of a few days. She was quickly diagnosed with MS in December 2024.

‘From the hospital room on day one of my diagnosis, I found MS-UK and I knew we had a new cause to fundraise for.’

After just several weeks of hospital stays and visits for IV steroid infusions, Jen was back running with Kristen – but with slight modifications.

‘My major MS symptom was that I couldn’t feel my legs, meaning I could run using muscle memory, but would instantly fall to the ground when I stopped – unless Kristen was there to catch me.’

Once Jen had cooled down, she would regain enough strength in her legs to walk again. This pattern continued for six months.

‘It was scary, but Kristen catching me and holding me up was a habit we quickly learned to accept, especially because we had both already committed to running the Berlin Marathon to raise money for MS.’

The girls chose to support MS-UK because in those first few frightening days of being diagnosed, they found MS-UK online and realised the social media posts were both informative and easy to understand.

‘I used a lot of the MS-UK posts to explain to my own four children, and my students, what was happening in my body. They helped me put names to the symptoms I was feeling, such as Lhermitte’s Sign, and know these were normal experiences for someone with MS. Even from an ocean away, MS-UK was my top resource to understand a disease I would now be navigating for life.’

Fundraising for MS came easy to Jen due to her personal connection and her passion to continue to fight for increased disease modifying therapies – which she did every day – and a potential cure for MS.

In December of 2025, to ‘celebrate’ one year of being diagnosed, Jen and Kristen hosted a Santa Stampede run in their town with 300 participants running in Santa suits and raised around £7,500 ($10,000) for MS-UK in that one day.

‘The event was simply amazing, and the run was spearheaded by my nine year old daughter, Juliet, who wanted to help people affected by MS. Even from a young age, she has seen the impact fundraising can have on individuals and how funding for MS research can truly change lives.

‘My advice to anyone fundraising for MS-UK is to use a personal connection and think outside the box. Try to find an event/activity your community doesn’t have yet and create it yourself. It takes a little legwork but the benefit of creating a new, positive, experience while raising money for such a great cause is unparalleled.’

The girls already have a new running goal – to hopefully run the 2027 Tokyo Marathon for MS-UK and raise as much money as they can along the way.

‘My motivation to run each day is to show my kids and anyone else watching that even though I have MS, I can still set difficult goals and accomplish them.

‘I chose to accept my diagnosis with a positive attitude and a new motivation to live life to the fullest.’

Recently, and a year after taking medication for MS, Jen was told by her neurologist that she has had no progression of the disease.

‘This likely wouldn’t be true if it weren’t for the individual fundraising efforts of those around the world to support medical research and work towards creating a better life for people living with MS.

‘I will always choose to be an advocate for MS, spreading awareness and raising money to improve life for each individual, like myself, living with the disease. I will also always choose to move my body in any capacity I can, and not take for granted that one day I may not be able to… And should that day come, instead, use my voice and passion for fundraising to support incredibly worthy causes, such as MS-UK.’