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Muscular Dystrophy Association Announces 2022 Muscle Walk in Westmont, Illinois on June 4, 9:30am in Ty Warner Park hosted by Billy Zureikat

WESTMONT, Illinois – May 2, 2022 – Thousands of people in Westmont, IL are taking steps to help fund the promising progress that the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is making. The MDA Muscle Walk of Illinois, is open to register and donate, and will be held on Saturday, June 4 at 9:30 am in Ty Warner Park. The event will raise critical funds and awareness to help empower children and adults living with muscular dystrophy, ALS, and related neuromuscular diseases to live longer, more independent lives. MDA’s Illinois Ambassador, Billy Zureikat who lives with Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD), will serve as emcee of the event. Zureikat is fast becoming an influencer, raising awareness and funds as he shares his story after his recent diagnosis with LGMD. "I truly am honored to be chosen by the MDA to emcee this year's Muscle Walk. Having been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy just over a year ago, I’ve found it very therapeutic to share my story, and by doing so I’ve become part of this incredible community raising awareness and funds so we can all achieve our dreams and passions in life. In my case, combining my passion for cooking with fundraising for MDA’s mission has brought me a lot of joy.” said Zureikat.

MDA proclaimed 2022 as the Year of Independence and this year, MDA Muscle Walks will include engagement activations via its Quest platform including:

• Quest Podcast Engagement tent, where participants aka MDA Walk Stars can record themselves on the topic of empowerment, to be considered for inclusion in future episodes of MDA’s Quest podcast.
• MDA Summer Camp Experience tent, where participants can engage in MDA campers’ favorite arts and crafts projects.
• MDA Advocacy Engagement tent, where participants can learn more about the efforts of MDA’s Advocacy team in areas including access to healthcare, newborn screening, education, employment, travel and more. Participants will be able to sign up to advocate to remove barriers for our community.

Funds raised from these events support research, which is conducted worldwide – and has led in part to 15 FDA approved treatments for the neuromuscular community in the past seven years. Funds also support MDA’s Care Center network with multi-disciplinary medical teams at over 150 locations nationwide, MDA’s Resource Center providing guidance for the neuromuscular community, educational programming, advocacy, and MDA Summer Camp for children living with neuromuscular disease ages 8 to 17.

“We’re thrilled to be back in person empowering our families in cities across the country to participate in MDA’s Muscle Walk events for a very important cause to accelerate progress for people living with neuromuscular disease. These events bring our families, and the people who love and support them, together to raise awareness and funds for research, care, and advocacy for the neuromuscular community,” said Brittany Minke, MDA National Director, Fundraising and Community Engagement. “Our mission is to empower people living with neuromuscular disease to live life to their fullest potential, connect with one another and raise critical funds for research, care, and advocacy for our community.”

To follow updates on this event follow us on MDA Chicagoland and Northern Illinois Facebook page.

To learn more about all of MDA’s 2022 Muscle Walks throughout the country, visit: /muscle-walk. Throughout 2022, MDA will promote these events on national social media channels @MDAorg using #MuscleWalk. Watch the MDA Muscle Walk video here.

Thank you to our national MDA Muscle Walk sponsor, Biogen.

About Muscular Dystrophy Association

Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is the #1 voluntary health organization in the United States for people living with muscular dystrophy, ALS, and related neuromuscular diseases. For over 70 years, MDA has led the way in accelerating research, advancing care, and advocating for the support of our families. MDA’s mission is to empower the people we serve to live longer, more independent lives. To learn more visit mda.org and follow MDA on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn.