Man diagnosed with MS walking from Dartmouth to Truro to raise awareness

DARTMOUTH – It was an impromptu idea, but that’s the way Fred Franklin needed it to be.

Franklin, 53, was diagnosed with progressive multiple sclerosis three years ago, and doctors told him he had likely been suffering from it for more than 10 years. He said he will soon be forced to use a wheelchair, and that’s why he embarked on a walk from Dartmouth to Truro in order to raise awareness and money for the disease.

“I will go as far as I can,” he said as he left the Superstore on Prince Albert Road Wednesday morning. “Within the next month or two, I’ll be in a wheelchair permanently, so now is the only chance I’ve got to do this.”

Franklin said it’s the generosity of the people who have been helping him and his family that inspired him to give back in any way he can.

He’s walking with his longtime partner and caregiver Katherine Ridgley, and their children will also be beside him the entire time.

Since his diagnosis, Franklin’s world has been turned upside-down.

He used to run his own construction company, and now finds it difficult that he is unable to work.

“That’s hard for somebody who worked all their life,” he said. “When you’ve always done for yourself and now you depend on other people to do for you, it’s hard to accept that.”

In the past year, the disease has progressed fast. His occupational therapist told him he would require a power wheelchair soon, among other medical equipment.

The Kinsmen Club of Sackville helped Franklin and his family purchase a walker, bed rail and grab-bars for the bathroom. The Canadian Red Cross and Easter Seals are helping him with the cost of a wheelchair.

“There’s times when he can’t even get dressed. We’re helping him get dressed, I help him when he gets in the shower, ” Ridgley said. “It’s been hard, it’s been stressful and it’s tearing me apart.”

“He had his own company, he was running and working, and carrying on and playing with the kids,” she said. “Then all of a sudden, the last three years, it’s been that he can barely do any of that anymore.”

Franklin said multiple sclerosis doesn’t just affect him physically, but also mentally.

“It messes with your mind. You go through depression,” he said. “Luckily for me, I have a great support system with my family.”

Ridgley said if Franklin can’t complete the walk by himself, that support system will be there to help.

“I don’t know how far we’re going to make it, but we’re going to push,” she said. “What he can’t make, I’m going to make and my older son is going to make.”