What happened in 2022?
Thanks to your support we’ve made some incredible achievements this year, ranging from campaigns to fundraising to research. Let’s take a look at just some of the highlights of 2022.
The end of the year is approaching fast. As we begin to put into motion our plans for 2023, we took some time to reflect on what we achieved together this year.
MS Awareness Week
MS Awareness Week in 2022 focused on the uncertainty of living with MS. We developed the campaign in collaboration with people with MS. Thanks to everyone who co-created our theme, shared their stories on our blog and in the press, hosted Instagram lives and created Instagram reels.
If you'd like to get involved in next year's MS Awareness Week, email [email protected]
Our amazing new MS Society Ambassadors
We welcomed two new MS Society Ambassadors this year. The comedian Ivo Graham, whose mum lives with MS. And the former England footballer and now football manager, Mary Phillip, who has MS herself.
Our Ambassadors play a important role in raising awareness, reaching new audiences. Not to mention their help raising funds to stop MS (link opens in Twitter)!
BBC Lifeline TV Appeal
June saw the launch of our BBC Lifeline TV Appeal, starring chef Tom Kerridge and other members of our MS community.
It focused on Sasha, Stuart and Val and their stories about our MS Helpline, our research, and the amazing support our local group volunteers give around the UK. The appeal raised more than £13,000 for our work.
Saying thank you to our volunteers
This year we hosted our first Volunteer Impact Awards. The virtual awards ceremony was presented by BBC Radio 2 DJ Scott Mills. And it celebrated the achievements of our fantastic volunteers from across the UK.
You can nominate volunteers for Impact Awards throughout the year.
#BreakingPoint campaign
We’ve seen campaign wins across 2022 with the help of our hard-working campaigns community. Our #BreakingPoint petition calling for more support for people with MS throughout the cost of living crisis and beyond, was signed by 14,366 of us.
We've already seen some real wins as the UK Government announced benefits will increase in line with inflation from April. And there'll be new cost of living payments next year. But we’ll keep calling for much-needed support through the winter.
Sativex campaign update
We also saw significant improvements in availability of Sativex, a cannabis-based treatment for moderate to severe spasticity.
Last year, thousands of us wrote to our local health bodies to call for an end to the Sativex postcode lottery. This year, the number of local NHS bodies in England who routinely fund Sativex increased by 45%. On top of this, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) announced Sativex will be available in Scotland.
2022 research round up
Our vital clinical trials all made progress, including the first person joining our new myelin repair trial. And our ChariotMS trial for advanced MS has got a third of the way to its recruitment goal in their first year.
This year we also organised the UK's largest MS research conference, MS Frontiers, bringing together scientists to network and share the latest advances in MS research. Frontiers also supported the next generation of MS researchers by giving them a platform to present their work and hear from world experts.
Read our full 2022 research round-up
Giving support with our MS Helpline
Between January and September our MS Helpline answered an incredible 14,000 enquiries.
Through the Helplines Partnership our MS Helpline and helpline services have been shortlisted for the Resilience in the face of Adversity awards. And one of our helpline staff has been nominated for Employee of The Year.
Explore our MS Helpline services
UK MS Register
We awarded a new multi-year grant to the UK MS Register, as it celebrated its 10th birthday.
Our funding helps the UK MS Register to support lots of different research, some of which you may have read about in our recent Stop MS Christmas Appeal.
Fundraisers like you!
Fundraisers like you have been doing amazing things all year. And we wanted to say a huge thank you to the:
- 137 who trekked and raised £166,863
- 148 who cycled and raised £80,000
- 280 who completed the London Marathon and raised £554,232
- 985 who walked, rolled or strolled at MS Walks all over the country, or completed their own one and raised £202,000
- 182 whose pawsome pups took on the My MS Woof challenge in October and raised £44,000.
And thank you to everyone who swam, abseiled, bungee-jumped, crafted, bought wedding favours, held a birthday fundraiser, or fundraised with your local group in 2022.
We're also very grateful to everyone who donated in memory of a loved one this year. You raised an amazing £343,000 in honour of people no longer with us.
Whatever fundraising you do, you’re bringing us closer to our vision: A world free from the effects of MS.
Thank you - you're amazing!
