Providing Hope through Living MS: Our July Community Outreach Partner

In 2011, local Loudoun resident, Beth Donaldson, was given news she had long feared: she had Multiple Sclerosis. A mother of two and wife of a police SWAT officer, Beth was no stranger to the disease as her paternal grandfather and two paternal aunts had the disease.

The grueling treatments began right away — treatments that would help to keep the disease at bay, but which also brought on other debilitating symptoms. Beth has been through multiple treatments, infusions, has seen lesions, fatigue, nausea, brain cloud, but endures it all with grace and a smile that would melt even the Grinch’s heart. In 2015, from osteoarthritis caused by the multiple sclerosis, Beth underwent her first hip replacement, and in 2017, a second hip replacement.

Beth’s husband, Mike, an amazing supporter to Beth, began immediately raising money for research. From 2012 through 2016, the two raised approximately $17,000 for the MS Society through Mike’s bike rides for the MS Society. It was in 2016 when the two decided to create Living MS, a 501(c)3 charity focused on raising money for MS research and awareness.

In 2017, Living MS hosted their first annual Bike Ride, called Gravel de Loco, and raised an impressive $6,000. On November 8, 2017, the couple and their two children drove to The James Q. Miller MS Clinic at UVA and donated a check for $5,000 to be used to fund research for a cure for MS. Beth and Mike are planning a second Gravel de Loco, tentatively scheduled for October 13, 2018. Please be sure to follow the Living MS Facebook page for updates on this amazing and *beautiful* ride through one of the most scenic counties in the nation!

Living MS is planning another bike ride this year, tentatively scheduled for Saturday, October 13th in Loudoun County. The ride will have a 25 mile loop and a 50 mile loop.

This July, we are honored to partner with Living MS and will be donating $1 from every haircut from our Fairfax and Loudoun locations to this local non-profit whose mission is to end MS.

A little side note that we love: Beth originally found Salon Khouri by winning a gift card she won through a fundraiser in 2013 for the Isabella Santos Foundation.