Workouts help MS sufferers stay flexible and strong

July 2011

It’s more than 100 degrees outside, and even though extreme heat leaves Melissa May Yelvington limp, she walks through the gym door.

The 63-year-old has multiple sclerosis, a disease that attacks the nervous system, distorting and interrupting the impulses that travel from her brain to the rest of her body.

Eighteen months ago, Yelvington’s independence was diminishing; she couldn’t stand up or sit without assistance.

But today, she gingerly lowers herself to a chair at Creek’s Gym in Palm Desert. She shares a laugh with other clients of ACT for MS, a nonprofit organization that provides two personal training sessions a week to those with various degrees of disability from the disease.