About 1,300 people walked for the 1,500 Ottawans with multiple sclerosis Sunday to continue the quest for a cure.
Sherry Leech was one of the participants in the 21st annual MS walk in Ottawa, having lived with the neurological disease for seven years.
"It's just literally a lack of control, there's that short circuit that the message doesn't get from my brain to my legs," she said. "So I know what I want it to do, I just literally can't get my legs to pick up and move where I want them to."
Canada has one of the highest rates of MS in the world, with the money from this walk helping those living with MS in Ottawa.
"There has been a tremendous amount of progress made in trying to provide a cure, including a lot of world class research that is being done right here in Ottawa," said Tim Vice with the Ottawa chapter of the MS Society.
"I have a very good friend at home who has MS so I've seen how the disease progresses and the toll it's taken on him," said US ambassador to Canada David Jacobson.
The federal government recently announced it's funding a clinical trial for the controversial, experimental liberation therapy.
Many people with MS went overseas to seek this treatment out, which involves opening up veins in the neck to increase blood flow.
"I really believe it's unproven, I've met people who've had great success for short periods of time," said John Kersley, who lives with MS.
"Other people had total success for fairly long period of time, although neurologists don't believe they're that improved, and I also know people who've had no impact from this at all."
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Vanessa Lee
