As most of our readers will know by now this month is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month.  So we were delighted when Ben Grynol of Top and Derby got in touch suggesting that he shares in a guest blog post how his company is not just promoting Multiple Sclerosis awareness but also raising funds for MS research.

Ben writes “For hundreds of years, walking canes were commonly used fashion accessories which were made and worn with pride. But as time went on, the aesthetics were abandoned and the finely crafted artifacts were replaced with cold, clinical, and impersonal items of utility. Today, most canes do little to inspire the self-confidence of those who use them. We aim to change this.  At Top & Derby, we’re set out to end the stigma of disability by making design-driven home healthcare products. We don’t think that anyone should have to walk around with products that they’re embarrassed by. It’s just not fair.

In the spring of 2011, we started designing and building countless iterations and prototypes of many different home healthcare products. In doing so, we narrowed down our focus, and decided to launch our first product in the market – the Chatfield walking cane. We wanted to create a cane that was simple, and constructed of premium materials that would benefit a wide demographic of people.  However, when we first launched the Chatfield, we weren’t really sure who would buy it. We just knew that we wanted to design and manufacture products that would improve people’s lives in some small way. Essentially, we wanted to make Home Healthcare products that people would be proud to own.

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After we launched our first product in the market – the Chatfield cane – we started getting notes from various people, all of different ages, backgrounds, and genders. In these notes, people would tell us about the ways in which the Chatfield had made a positive impact on their lives. We also learned that many of the people who use our canes have Multiple Sclerosis. Like many people, we had heard of MS, but weren’t overly familiar with the disease and how it can affect people. We started to realize that there are a lot of debilitating diseases that go unnoticed, because people have heard of them, but don’t really know what they are. So, we began doing our homework and learned a few things:

MS IS UNPREDICTABLE:

• The initial symptoms of the disease – numbness in a person’s extremities, blurred vision, and compromised balance – can all seem to “appear” out of nowhere. One day, a person is “perfectly healthy” and the next day, he or she starts noticing the onset of some symptoms of MS.

MS HAS A WIDE REACH:

• MS affects approximately 2.3 million people globally, it affects people in many different ways, and has varying degrees of severity

THE DISEASE DOESN’T DISCRIMINATE:

• MS is not contagious, and epidemiologists have identified specific factors – age, gender, geography, genetics, and ethnicity – which may help to determine what causes MS.

THERE IS NOT A CURE…YET:

• There is lots of research being undertaken for MS, which is a great step forward. A few decades ago, there was very little research and understanding of the causes of MS, but as research initiatives continue to scale, more funding and attention is being targeted towards the disease. At the moment, some of the world’s leading MS research is happening in our own backyard – Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada!

As such, we felt that it was important to give back to the people who’ve supported us. So, we decided to launch a Limited Edition version of our award winning cane in the Multiple Sclerosis awareness color – Pantone 158 to support Multiple Sclerosis Awareness and Research. Our “enable” initiative promotes Canes for a Cure as its tag-line to raise money for the cause. With the initiative, we’re donating proceeds from the sale of each cane directly to the Multiple Sclerosis organizations in Canada and the USA. Please help us to spread the word, so that we can all be a part of helping to find a cure for MS. Thanks for joining the movement, and putting more step in your game!”

Ben Grynol

Co-founder, TOP & DERBY

www.topandderby.com