Irene's story
This is Irene’s 25th year living with MS. Here is her story.
2Steppers captain, Irene Unger, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1999 at the age of 22 while in grad school and student teaching. She woke up one day with double vision.
It was the first of what would become a lifetime of living with a chronic, unpredictable, devastating disease. One where "episodes" or false ups could happen at any time.
Since her diagnosis, Irene has done her best to remain her best self, however the worst part of having
MS was when the disease progression forced her to leave her teaching career in 2014.
In 2016 Irene joined the Westchester Walk Volunteer Committee, a group created to help
make each year's walk even better than the walk before.After four years of being instrumental
in positive changes, in early 2020 she was asked to be WALKMS Westchester Committee Chair
and felt excited for this new title.
Soon after, thanks to Covid, both WalkMS 2020 and WalkMS 2021 were virtual,
so Irene did her best to fundraise, but those years were tough.
However in 2022, WalkMS was back, and with that Irene was back to creating team excitement through
bringing back our pop-up shop and post-walk party at Dog Den in White Plains. these events are going to be even bigger in 2024!
In addition to focusing on WalkMS Irene does advocacy work for disabled people, specifically at concert venues and hotels. After having horrible and harrowing experiences with non compliant ADA issues, and seeing a complete lack of understanding what a person with MS goes though to see live music, or travel, Irene started conversations with Live Nation and Marriott so she could make these essential parts of life happy and safe again.
Since seeing live music, especially the Dave Matthews Band, and travel are two of Irene's favorite pastimes, this led to epic wins.
MS makes every part of Irene's days extremely challenging, specifically with balance, cognitive imbalance, fatigue and pain.
While it is too late for Irene for full restoration of lost functions, it is not too late for the 300 people diagnosed with MS a day
and Irene is working tirelessly to make sure no one has to ever hear "you have MS" again.
Irene lives in Briarcliff Manor, New York with her husband Geoff, her 18 year old son Ben,
and her dog Jesse.
She welcomes all correspondence and can be emailed here.
2Steppers captain, Irene Unger, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1999 at the age of 22 while in grad school and student teaching. She woke up one day with double vision.
It was the first of what would become a lifetime of living with a chronic, unpredictable, devastating disease. One where "episodes" or false ups could happen at any time.
Since her diagnosis, Irene has done her best to remain her best self, however the worst part of having
MS was when the disease progression forced her to leave her teaching career in 2014.
In 2016 Irene joined the Westchester Walk Volunteer Committee, a group created to help
make each year's walk even better than the walk before.After four years of being instrumental
in positive changes, in early 2020 she was asked to be WALKMS Westchester Committee Chair
and felt excited for this new title.
Soon after, thanks to Covid, both WalkMS 2020 and WalkMS 2021 were virtual,
so Irene did her best to fundraise, but those years were tough.
However in 2022, WalkMS was back, and with that Irene was back to creating team excitement through
bringing back our pop-up shop and post-walk party at Dog Den in White Plains. these events are going to be even bigger in 2024!
In addition to focusing on WalkMS Irene does advocacy work for disabled people, specifically at concert venues and hotels. After having horrible and harrowing experiences with non compliant ADA issues, and seeing a complete lack of understanding what a person with MS goes though to see live music, or travel, Irene started conversations with Live Nation and Marriott so she could make these essential parts of life happy and safe again.
Since seeing live music, especially the Dave Matthews Band, and travel are two of Irene's favorite pastimes, this led to epic wins.
MS makes every part of Irene's days extremely challenging, specifically with balance, cognitive imbalance, fatigue and pain.
While it is too late for Irene for full restoration of lost functions, it is not too late for the 300 people diagnosed with MS a day
and Irene is working tirelessly to make sure no one has to ever hear "you have MS" again.
Irene lives in Briarcliff Manor, New York with her husband Geoff, her 18 year old son Ben,
and her dog Jesse.
She welcomes all correspondence and can be emailed here.
what is a 2stepper?
Our team, 2Steppers, is named after the song "Two Step" by the Dave Matthews Band. The moment Irene heard the song, specifically the lyrics, "celebrate we will because life is short for certain" the song never stopped being her favorite.
“Two Step” was Irene and Geoff’s wedding song in 2001. The song has so much meaning that when
Irene got her first car in 1999, Geoff surprised her with personalized plates that say DMB2STEP.
Her cars have changed many times since then, but the plate has not.
The motifs in Dave’s lyrics about living in the present, being the kindest you, living each day to the fullest, and surrounding yourself with the people you love, are why DMB continues to be an every day part of Irene’s world.
"Two Step" also has the lyric "climb on two by two to be sure these days continue."
She knows she could never do any of alone and thanks her family, friends, teammates and supporters for their unwavering support.
Being able to go to Dave shows is something Irene hopes MS will never take from her.
“Two Step” was Irene and Geoff’s wedding song in 2001. The song has so much meaning that when
Irene got her first car in 1999, Geoff surprised her with personalized plates that say DMB2STEP.
Her cars have changed many times since then, but the plate has not.
The motifs in Dave’s lyrics about living in the present, being the kindest you, living each day to the fullest, and surrounding yourself with the people you love, are why DMB continues to be an every day part of Irene’s world.
"Two Step" also has the lyric "climb on two by two to be sure these days continue."
She knows she could never do any of alone and thanks her family, friends, teammates and supporters for their unwavering support.
Being able to go to Dave shows is something Irene hopes MS will never take from her.
