In the spring of 1998, 32-year-old Point Loma resident Shauna Woodward suddenly began experiencing a “tipped” feeling. “Everything was tipped to the side and I just couldn’t right myself,” Woodward recalled. Within two months, the left side of her face began to feel cool and tingly and she constantly drifted to the right, whether driving or walking. A month later, Woodward lost the sight in her left eye, underwent an MRI and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in June of that year. “I was most afraid of the treatment,” said Woodward of the weekly self-injections, “since I’m terrified of needles.” The following April, Woodward gathered her family together to join her at Walk MS in San Diego. “The first year I walked, I was amazed that all those people were there and they were walking for me,” she said. “When you’re diagnosed, you feel really alone,” Woodward said. “The walk gave me the sense that I’m not alone.” Over the last ten years, Woodward’s Walk MS team, named “Shining for Shauna,” has grown from just her family to nearly 30 members, including colleagues, friends and family. The team is well on its way to reaching its $4,600-plus goal this year. In addition to the team’s online and traditional fundraising efforts, every year Woodward’s cousin creates a new T-shirt for the event. Each member of the team has to purchase the shirt in the form of a donation in order to join. Woodward, a second-grade teacher, doesn’t let the MS limit her. “… If I let myself think it will limit me, it just might,” Woodward said. “I believe in what the power of your mind can do for your health.” Despite ongoing weakness in her right side, occasionally increasing to spasticity or trembling, Woodward, now 43, is active in karate and on the move with her three dogs. “I have a niece and nephew under the age of 4 and I plan on keeping up with them forever,” Woodward said. “I focus on things that will make me stronger and I have a lot of support in my life. (Friends and family) never let me think that I can’t do something.”