First Sailing Adventure of Its Kind

First, imagine being a member of a sailing crew that gets to journey across the world. Then, imagine being a member of that crew while living with Multiple Sclerosis. The Sailing Sclerosis Foundation has taken a voyage on the boat, Oceans of Hope, to empower those living with MS.

Today's inspirational guests are the founder of the Sailing Sclerosis Foundation, Mikkel Anthonisen, and one of the U.S crew members living with MS, Cara Lauer.

Thank you both for talking with me today. So first, tell us a little bit about this Oceans of Hope expedition.

Mikkel: The Oceans of Hope is a platform to raise awareness for Multiple Sclerosis. We are sailing around the world, and the crew is living with the disease, MS. What we want to achieve with this is to lift the perception of what it's like to live with the disease by creating networks all over the world and sailing society and to empower others to reach after their dreams and take the challenge to reach for life.

I love this idea. So tell me how this came about where you chose to raise awareness and to empower people by sailing around the world.

Mikkel: Well, the idea came to me after meeting a patient of mine who was feeling inferior, depression, and even shame that he could not fulfill his dream of sailing around the world in his own boat since he has MS. I just kept thinking that I need to get him to go sailing again. That's how it all started. It's a way to show that you can get out of this path.

So how long have you actually been set sail? I see that you're here today to give an update on your journey.

Mikkel: Last year we started making these sailings in Denmark and this second navigation took off from Copenhagen in the middle of June. Then we left Portugal in the beginning of August and spent three weeks crossing the Atlantic Ocean to arrive here in Boston. So now we are inviting the U.S Citizens with MS to be a part of and get inspired by our way of thinking.

Now Cara, as one of the crew members on the ship, how did you hear about this opportunity?

Cara: I heard about it through the MS Society. It's a great network of local affiliates, and I went to their website and started to follow along their journey. Their lives are continuing and they are blogging along the way. It's an encouragement to be among many people from whether you want to be an armchair traveler or apply to be part of their crew.

What about the training for something like this? I can imagine that there was a lot of training especially for the length of the total trip.

Mikkel: If you go to our website, www.sailingsclerosis.com, you can see where we will be headed. We are actually coming to a port near you in Philadelphia in a couple months (November 11th-16th) where we want to encourage people to get out sailing with their local yacht clubs, and the same thing with the other cities we will be sailing into. So check out the website for those dates.

So in the stops that you've already had, what have you noticed from the crowds as they are becoming aware of your mission and learning more about MS?

Mikkel: Well, I must say that this has been a life-changing experience for the MS crew and for myself. It has indeed changed my perception of what it's like to have a disease like this and that you can still live your life and we must insist on including each other in giant communities where you take chances and know that it's possible to live your dreams.

So Cara, I'm curious to know since in your bio it does say that you have been diagnosed with MS, if all of the other crew members are MS patients or are their some who are involved because they want to support a loved one with MS?

Cara: The MS crew is entirely people living with MS. I think that's one of the things that sounds kind of radical about this project to people is that the ideas of sailing around the world is something that is very physically challenging and this time it's also challenging in different ways. It's not something that people associate with MS. The goal of changing perceptions is changing people's ideas about what limitations different people face. The idea that a crew of people living with MS can embark on this kind of journey is amazing and inspirational.

You're right. That is amazing to know and think about what everyone on that ship are doing knowing some of the limitations of your body and that on certain days your body may not be up for the challenge as much as others. It's encouraging to know that all of you still push yourselves and are able to succeed.

Cara: I think from what I've heard from the European crew who came across the Atlantic that it sounds like MS didn't come up in conversation. Everybody was exhausted and facing the same challenges. At least one crew member said that MS is a land lover and sort of stayed on shore when people sailed off together. So the importance of people working together and supporting one another was the main lesson.

That's very cool to know how far this trip alone has come and how far it's going to continue to go. How can people go get involved with the Oceans of Hope?

Mikkel: If people want to get involved in that project then they can go to our website at www.sailingsclerosis.com, and follow our blogs to see how to apply and see where we will be next. You can also see the stories of the crew and videos and get inspired by the work that we are doing. We need to change the perception of MS and how it affects the lives of people with the disease.

On this journey to sail around the world and raise awareness and empowerment for those living with MS, the group has hit their sixth port. Boston is the first of several stops in the U.S, and the crew will continue to visit approximately 20 ports around the world. They will travel 33,000 nautical miles in the 17-month journey. Hearing the stories from Cara about the crew members and how MS doesn't even come into play as they are traveling the globe makes this Oceans of Hope crew my inspirational person this week.