Brotherly Love: Skydiving For MS Cure

A New Jersey man hopes to raise thousands of dollars for his favorite charity by jumping out of an airplane. He has special reason for doing so. Fred Schwartz says he expects the jump to be exhilarating, but he also hopes it's an inspiration.

Imagine jumping out of a plane strapped to another person. Now imagine doing that when your own legs don't work.

That's what Fred Schwartz of Burlington Township plans to do later this week. But he's not worried.

"There's risk driving down the street. That's probably more risky than going skydiving," he said.

Fred has MS. He had been a healthy young man, but was diagnosed in 1994 at the age of 24. Now he's 40 and using a wheelchair. The coating around his nerves, myelin, has been damaged by the disease.

"The current treatments for MS are designed just to slow the progression of the disease -- not to halt it, just slow it," he said.

Researchers at the Myelin Repair Foundation in California are working to correct that damage instead. That's the kind of work Fred's skydiving will support.

Fred has a website, and he is hoping for sponsors to donate $5000 to the Myelin Repair Foundation.

"Oh, I'm a little anxious!" laughed Helen Solinski of the Myelin Repair Foundation, who manages donor relations. She talked to us in a video call via Skype.

"It's a honor that he's including the Myelin Repair Foundation as part of this big jump so I'm very excited for him," said Solinski.

So how will the jump work? As you can see in photos, Fred's feet will be tied to an experienced skydiver's legs, so they'll land firmly on the ground together.

"Hey, there's no limits on what you can do even if you're disabled," said Fred.

As he prepares to take the plunge, he hopes the dollars he raises this week are the ones that cure MS.

RELATED LINK:
Fred Schwartz's fundraising site: http://skydivingforms.blogspot.com