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Sheela Chitnis is a founding member and Chairperson of MSSI (Multiple Sclerosis Society of India). Her journey from a housewife to a breadwinner, to an influential social activist building awareness on MS (Multiple Sclerosis) in India is quite inspirational.

In 1985 her husband was diagnosed with MS which prompted Sheela to team up with A.H. Tobaccowala, Dr. Noshir Wadia (a neurologist) and Rehmut Fazalboy (a social activist). Sheela and her family had a harrowing experience as it took 14 years for her husband to get diagnosed with MS. She felt very strongly that other people must not go through the same experience and there is a strong need of building awareness.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic progressive auto-immune disease of central nervous system (CNS). The immune system gets mis-directional and attacks its own CNS unexpectedly and repeatedly resulting into devastating disabilities in young people at the prime of their lives. Sheela empathizes deeply with people with MS and shares that the most unfortunate part of MS disability is not visible outside, especially in its early stages. While these people may need more care than any other handicapped. Being a family caregiver herself, Sheela completely understands and relates to the struggle that MS families go through.

Multiple Sclerosis is recently included in the Disability Act of India. With effort of MSSI, Sheela pursues and hopes that the certificates are issued to all the MS patients irrespective of the degree of disability, as the disease is quite unpredictable. Growing from strength to strength and with the support of new age media, today MSSI has grown in across key cities in India i.e. Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Kolkata, Indore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. Started from 3 patients in 1985, MSSI has now 4000 registered cases. Sheela hopes that more people must come forward to enroll to share with each other as there are about 100,000 MS patients in India. MSSI imparts counseling and other welfare services such as providing rehabilitation therapies, mobility aids, seminars, workshops and other engaging events for patients and families.

https://www.msif.org/news/2017/04/20/india-celebrates-ms-activist-international-womens-day/ https://www.lumieresolutions.com/idea-watch/?p=149 http://tryforgood.com/sheela-chitnis/ http://www.mssocietyindia.org/mumbai-chapter/