CINCINNATI — Living with multiple sclerosis, a disease that affects the brain and spinal cord, can make life an everyday battle.

What You Need To Know

  • MS Motivational Institute was established back in 2007

  • MSMI helps Multiple Sclerosis patients and their families through motivational speakers, advocacy,  and support services.

  • It was founded by Marvis Green, who was diagnosed with MS in 1999

A southwest Ohio organization that is doing all it can to help those in need was honored this week. 

MS Motivational Institute CEO and founder Marvis Green had everything prepared for the MSMI Day ceremony.

An MSMI shirt was presented to Hamilton County Commissioner Alicia Reece, who has her own personal reasons to be there.

“Her mom was also an MS patient and her dad was one of our keynote speakers at one of our first galas so it’s kind of going around full circle,” said Green. 

Green knows the struggle with MS far too well.

She was diagnosed with MS back in 1999. But she said she started experiencing symptoms while at work long before she was diagnosed.

“Now normally I would kind of jog up the steps with my briefcase and my lunch bag and my heels and my suit and one day I realized I just couldn’t do that,” she said. 

Mobility and visual issues and chronic fatigue are some of the symptoms she has experienced. But getting that diagnosis was initially a shock to her.

“It was scary because my husband and I had just got married a couple of months ago and I was diagnosed with MS. It was a very difficult time,” she said.  

Instead of dwelling on the bad news, Green decided to make the best out of her experience by helping others like her.

In 2007, she started the MS Motivational Institute, a nonprofit organization that helps MS patients and their families through motivational speakers, advocacy and support services. 

"We want to be a network,” she said. “If you’ve got a phone call that you need to place and you’re not sure what you need or where to go, you call us at MSMI.”

Over the past 14 years, Green and her team have helped thousands of MS patients and their families.

Now all their hard work is getting a big thank you.

Cincinnati designated Oct. 8 as MSMI Day with celebrations throughout the day.

“It’s a day of happiness, not only for me as the CEO and founder but for the staff, the volunteers and for all of us living with this MS disease and our journey,” she said. “So I’m very excited that it’s going to bring a positive spin to what MS looks like.”

For more information about MSMI click here. 

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