Woman turns MS diagnosis into a call to action

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]We're back now with our GMA Cover Story.

[00:00:01]One woman who faced a terrifying multiple sclerosis diagnosis by taking action. Now, 35 years later, the foundation Nancy Davis started, Race to Erase MS, is leading the charge to find a cure. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Taran Aruba, had a chance to talk to her and he here to share that with us.

[00:00:19]Good morning, Doc.

[00:00:19]>> I'm so happy to bring you her story. You know, MS affects nearly a million Americans with women three times more likely to be diagnosed than men. I sat down with Nancy Davis to talk about living with MS and the organization she built to change the course of the disease.

[00:00:35]It was 1991 when Nancy Davis lost the feeling in three fingertips, then her hand. Doctors diagnosed her with multiple sclerosis, or MS. I was devastated. I didn't know what that was going to mean for the rest of my life. I was a young mom. I was 33, just starting heading my stride in life. At the time, there wasn't much doctors could do. The doctor I went to wasn't really very [music] sympathetic or helpful in explaining what MS was. But, he told me that I would be lucky because I would be able to operate a remote control on my TV set. So, when they when they painted that picture for you, do you feel that that fueled you or did it on some level deflate you?

[00:01:19]I'm not person who I don't stay depressed. I've got to find a solution.

[00:01:24]Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks the protective coating around nerve fibers in the central nervous system. Symptoms can include fatigue, weakness, numbness or tingling, and blurred vision. I was looking at the ads that were on TV for MS and they they all showed a a beautiful young woman sitting in a wheelchair holding her child's hand and that image just really stuck with me and I thought I don't want to be that person. As a young mother terrified for her children and her future, she turned her fear into fuel, founding Race to Erase MS. We can make the pain disappear.

[00:02:04]Since its inception, the organization has raised over $58 million helping in the creation of 25 FDA-approved medications, including B-cell therapies like Ocrevus. Now, early research suggests the Epstein-Barr virus, the same one that causes mononucleosis, may play a role in triggering the disease in certain individuals. So, we think Epstein-Barr viral infection of B-cells in adolescence to a trigger the disease.

[00:02:32]That's the working model. It may lay dormant for decades. You may not know you have MS because the immune system hasn't attacked parts of the brain that lead to a symptom. And then, only then will the disease develop. Someday, Dr. Hafler hopes we could vaccinate susceptible teens against Epstein-Barr virus. Until then, Nancy is continuing her Race to Erase MS. I love the word resilience. What is it that you believe has made you so resilient? I look at the big picture and working on this is way bigger than than I am. The 33rd Race to Erase MS Gala is June 5th with a fashion show and performances by Snoop Dogg and Rachel Platten. And as always, the party will end with the song Lean on Me.

[00:03:20]>> I was driving in my car one day and I heard the song Lean on me when you're [music and singing] not strong.

[00:03:28]It became my anthem. It became so important to me. What do you hope your legacy will be? I hope my legacy in life will be that we can find a cure for MS and we can save a lot of lives. I know that we're going to. I know that we're on the horizon. We are so close, but at the end of the day, we're not there.

[00:03:47]We're not going to win our Race to Erase MS till we we are able to cure everybody with this.

[00:03:53]What's so amazing about Nancy is that her efforts got researchers from competing institutions to share data and work together over these last decades, which until then had been unheard of.

[00:04:03]That same approach is now being applied to unraveling other chronic diseases like addiction. The 33rd Race to Erase MS Gala is June 5th. Really amazing work they've done over the years and all the drugs they've had approved. Exactly. And she said to me that her kids are really so much of the fuel. She wanted to be strong for them. She wanted to show them how much it means to help other people.

[00:04:22]And she said her doctors told her that the pill in life, p i l, your purpose in life is better than the pill you take.

[00:04:28]And that really empowers her to do good.

[00:04:31]And I love that. The pill. I've never heard that like that.

[00:04:33]>> I thought that was great. Yeah, yeah.

[00:04:35]Wow. Yeah, thank you for bringing that to us.