Sy Levine, a 69-year-old North Brunswick resident, was recently honored for his fundraising efforts for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Over the past 11 years he has raised over $125,000 in support of the Coast the Coast bike tour. NORTH BRUNSWICK – A township resident hopes to “Seymour” research in the fight against multiple sclerosis.
For the past 11 years, 69-year-old Seymour Levine has traded in cake and presents for a bicycle and helmet: to celebrate his birthday, he forgoes the typical celebrations to instead participate in the 170-mile Coast the Coast Multiple Sclerosis bike tour to end the devastating effects of MS.
Because of his efforts, Levine was inducted into the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s National Volunteer Hall of Fame and was recognized at the society’s annual national conference in Dallas in late October, along with over 25 volunteers from across the country.
“I feel very honored, of course,” he said. “My involvement in MS began as a way to ride and help others. My cousin has MS and a good friend’s daughter also has it. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to meet many others with MS and marvel at the way they deal with this terrible disease. It has increased my desire to continue to ride even as I get on in years.”
Over the last decade, Levine has raised more than $125,000 for MS programs, services and research. He asks his family to donate to the National MS Society in lieu of birthday presents and Father’s Day gifts every year.
“I’d rather not have them buy me shirts and buy me ties that I don’t need to have [and instead] contribute to MS,” he said.
The retired scientist, who holds a Ph.D. in chemistry with 84 patents and nearly 40 published scientific papers, paces himself at about 12 or 13 mph and tries to cope with the numerous bridges during the twoday tour from Monmouth University to Cape May each May, usually around his birthday. He said his training starts in February, when he begins riding about 20 to 25 miles two to three times each week.
Levine tries to speak with all the riders he encounters along the way and help them to understand why supporting the event is so critical to the mission of eradicating MS. He said his fundraising success has been a result of such conversations, since he asks everyone he comes across to donate to the cause, and because of the continued support of three “generous” friends.
“The worst thing someone can say is, ‘No, I’m not interested in supporting you.’ But I’m surprised at the number of people I have written to for the first time and who are supportive of giving to me.”
An added bonus that results from his extensive fundraising efforts is his attendance at the Tour of Champions for the past five years, during which each state sends the volunteers who fund-raise a specific amount of money to a national convention so they can share ideas about how to raise money.
Levine said that he has every intention of riding next year, just a few days before his 70th birthday, and plans to raise more money than he has in previous attempts.
“My wife always says, ‘This is your last year, right?’ I say, ‘Wrong!’ I said, ‘Here’s the deal: if you let me buy a motorcycle I won’t ride again,’ but that usually ends the conversation,” he laughed. “I am one of those people who truly believes in my children’s lifetime, we will see a cure. … I want to participate in a cause where you can really see that significant advances are being made, and I really think that’s the case with MS.”
Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system that interrupts the flow of information between the brain and the body and thus inhibits movement, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Every hour in the United States, someone is diagnosed with MS, usually between the ages of 20 and 50, with symptoms ranging from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S., and 2.5 million worldwide.
For more information, visit www.nationalmssociety. org or call 1 (800) FIGHTMS.