About the MDS Awareness Walk

On September 27th, Chicago will unite across the city for our annual MDS Awareness Walk which will be held virtually in light of this year’s challenges and changes.

The Chicago MDS Awareness walk will be livestreamed, but teams are still encouraged to get together outdoors, while maintaining social distancing guidelines. We want you to walk anywhere and in any way that feels safe. Whether you’re outside with a team or doing the walk on your treadmill, be sure to submit photos that will be showcased during the event wearing the MDS-branded items that we will ship to your home upon registration. Please consult our Virtual Event Toolkit for more information about:

• How to register and participate virtually
• Mapping out your 5k route
• Social Media Guidelines
• Officially recording and submitting your time
• The schedule of events
• Our Marathon and Half-Marathon Challenge

WHY DO WE WALK?

The MDS Foundation aims to raise awareness of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), an often unrecognized and under-diagnosed rare group of bone marrow failure disorders that affects an estimated 12,000-20,000 people each year in the United States, with this number expected to grow.

Although great strides have been made, more work needs to be done for MDS and to better understand the needs of patients in this ever-changing environment. Inspired by those impacted by MDS, our hope with the MDS Awareness Walk series is to start a movement that helps to further spread awareness and bring attention to this disease among the physician community as well as the general public.

Our goals are to:

• Elevate the conversation around the unmet needs of those living with MDS.
• Bring together the MDS and rare disease community and create new connections.
• Reinforce our commitment, along with our partner organizations, to help improve the lives of MDS patients and those who care for them.
• Establish the need for and build momentum for future MDS walks across the country, no matter whether they are in-person or across a virtual network.

What is MDS? About the Foundation