Tulsa World: Riding for Mom

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Riding for Mom
An OSU professor will hit the Mother Road to fight a disease.

Carisa Ramming rides her bike in Tulsa on Tuesday in preparation for Bike MS — the Mother Road Ride this weekend. Ramming will participate in the 135-mile ride from Tulsa to Oklahoma City in honor of her mother, who had multiple sclerosis and died last year. JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World

By MICHAEL OVERALL World Staff Writer
Published: 9/24/2009 2:28 AM
Last Modified: 9/24/2009 3:50 AM

Carisa Ramming can remember riding in a basket on the back of her mother's bicycle and that later it was her mother who taught her how to ride.

"A lot of my earliest and fondest memories are wrapped up with biking and my mother," Ramming said.

But tennis was always her mother's favorite sport, at least until she started to have double-vision and blurriness.

"Her game went down very quickly," Ramming said. "That was the first sign."

It took a long time to diagnose, but in 1988, when Ramming was 10, she learned a new vocabulary term: multiple sclerosis.

With MS, the patient's own immune system attacks the central nervous system, which can eventually lead to paralysis and death.

"I remember being really confused and not knowing a whole lot about it," said Ramming, an assistant professor of architecture at Oklahoma State University.

Partly to help spread awareness about multiple sclerosis — and partly to honor her mother, who died last year — Ramming will ride a bicycle 135 miles across the state this weekend.

In fact, more than 600 cyclists will participate in the Bike MS tour Saturday and Sunday, following historic Route 66 from Tulsa to Oklahoma City, with an overnight stop in Chandler.

It's not as grueling as it sounds, Ramming said. The MS Society offers training rides leading up to the event.

"A lot of people start out with zero experience and build up to it," she said. "For someone who's just beginning to ride, it's a way to get involved and meet people."

Ramming didn't need the training; this will mark her sixth year to make the ride.

Her mother used to meet her at the finish line. Now Ramming will be accompanied along the full route by her husband and an aunt and uncle, while her brother takes part in a similar MS ride in New Mexico.

"It's brought our whole family together in a very special way," Ramming said. "And that's another reason to look forward to it all year."

Bike MS — the Mother Road Ride

The ride is 135 miles along historic Route 66 from Tulsa to Oklahoma City.

Cyclists will leave Saturday from Oklahoma State University-Tulsa and ride to Chandler, where they’ll spend the night. The race ends Sunday at the state Capitol.

Proceeds will help fund research into a cure for multiple sclerosis, which affects more than 21,000 Oklahomans, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Oklahoma Chapter.

Last year’s event raised more than $450,000 and involved more than 600 cyclists, the chapter says.

For more information, call 488-0882 or go online to tulsaworld.com/bikems.

Michael Overall 581-8383
michael.overall@tulsaworld.com By MICHAEL OVERALL World Staff Writer

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	Report Comment Badfinger, (9/24/2009 9:42:40 AM) Nice job, Carisa!
	Report Comment Arbythree, Tulsa (9/24/2009 1:06:44 PM) Nice story.
	Report Comment Few Clothes, America (9/24/2009 1:07:18 PM) I'm so sorry for the loss of your mother Carisa. Great ride wishes for you and your mother's memory.
	Report Comment mayor_maynot, Tulsa (9/24/2009 2:45:55 PM) Right on!! Live to ride!! Ride to live!!! ;0
	Report Comment jett rink, (9/24/2009 3:04:19 PM) Nice photo.(the first one...)
	Report Comment Proud Muslim, Tulsa: Coolest place in the world (almost) (9/24/2009 5:38:18 PM) Beautiful story. Never give up, Ms. Ramming. God bless you.
	Report Comment Centrist, the burbs (9/24/2009 6:54:18 PM) Good fundraiser for MS. I'm sorry for all of those who have suffered with this or their family member.
	Report Comment boomergirl, Kellyville (9/25/2009 8:17:40 AM) Way to go, Carisa! Your mom would be proud!!

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