I was standing on the pool deck after a vigorous swim, 51 years of age, disabled, and permanently out of the work force. This is when I realized swimming is the one thing my MS has not robbed me of doing, and doing well!

I started swimming at the age of two and have been swimming ever since. I find great pleasure and reward in swimming long distances. Swimming solely with my upper-body using a pull buoy to float my legs.

In 2013, I found myself in the Pacific Ocean doing my first open water swim. Swimming has since become my vocation and the vehicle I use in raising MS awareness and inspiring others of all abilities.

Read more about my journey here.

There are 2.9 million people worldwide living with Multiple Sclerosis, a chronic and unpredictable disease of the central nervous system leaving countless individuals disabled and often wheelchair and home bound. Thank you to everyone for your generous donations last year in raising $10,000 supporting the 2nd annual Keck USC Multiple Sclerosis Center’s annual patient/caregiver educational forum.

This year, I will be swimming two lengths of Lundy Lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, a distance of 2.5 miles / 7,835' elevation.

I personally invite you to help me again this year in supporting my swim of Lundy Lake benefiting next year’s – 2027 Third Annual Keck USC – MS Neurology patient/caregiver educational forum –

Donations go directly in support of Keck School of Medicine of USC MS Division.

“Swimming is the place where I am free. Free from the physically and mentally challenging aspects of living with Multiple Sclerosis. Swimming is one of the few abilities and pleasures in life my MS has not robbed of me being able to enjoy. I look at swimming as my personal equalizer over my MS and over all, those of able minds and bodies Swimming is who I have become. It is what Drives Me, My Identity, My Vocation, My Purpose in Life.”
— Richard “Dix” Gardner

Goal

This year’s swim will support the 3rd Annual MS Patient Forum envisioned by Dr. Lilyana Amezcua, Chief of the Multiple Sclerosis Comprehensive Care and Research Group at Keck Medicine of USC. The MS Patient Forum for patients and their loved ones at the USC Keck School of Medicine’s Health Sciences Campus, will provide an opportunity to learn about the latest in MS research and patient care at USC. The forum will include an opportunity for patients and caregivers to ask questions of the expert panel, to be comprised of USC’s MS specialists and members of the multidisciplinary team such as physical therapy, occupational therapy and social work.

Thanks to the fundraising efforts, Dr. Amezcua and the MS & Neuroimmunology division were able to successfully launch the 1st USC Multiple Sclerosis Patient Forum, which took place on April 2, 2025 on the Health Science Campus of USC. The forum featured Dr. Lilyana Amezcua, Dr. Christina Azevedo, Dr. Margaret Burnett, Dr. Masoud Majed, Dr. Christina Roman and Leslie Tarlow, NP. The team provided updates on MS research and care, including upcoming updates on the McDonald criteria that were fresh from the International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials in MS, the impact of Paramagnetic ring lesions (PRLS) and relationship with progression in MS, new upcoming clinical trials in progressive MS in collaboration with the California Institute for Restorative Medicine (CIRM and USC Alpha Clinic) that uses T cells and stem cells, aging in MS and clinic expansion on treating other related diseases such as NMO and MOG.

Dr. Amezcua is excited to expand on the forum’s success and to make it accessible to more patients both in-person and online. Your support will help us expand our reach and our panelists—providing dialogue on the latest in MS advancement and an opportunity for patients to bring questions about new research and treatment options that they may be hearing about throughout the community.

About Dr. Lilyana Amezcua

Dr. Lilyana Amezcua is an Associate Professor of Neurology and was recently appointed as Division Chief for MS and Neuroimmunology. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California Irvine in Irvine, California, and her medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, followed by neurology residency and clinical fellowship in neuroimmunology and multiple sclerosis at USC. She received her Master of Science degree in clinical, biomedical, and translational science from USC, Preventive Medicine, under a Clinical Translational Science Institute NIH KL2 award. Her research is focused on collaborating with basic researchers in the field of immunology, employing new imaging techniques to assess disease progression, as well as defining racial disparities that may exist within the multiple sclerosis population. She has received numerous awards and serves as principal investigator in multiple clinical trials, primarily focusing on progressive MS.

— Dix

Thank you, for your support of all my swims and in this noble cause!

Read more about my journey here (https://www.keckmedicine.org/magazine/raising-multiple-sclerosis-awareness/)

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