DR. WILLIAM PETIT JR.:

Thank you, it’s very good to be here with all of you today. My daughters Hayley Elizabeth and Michaela Rose were also relentless in their efforts to raise awareness and funds. After their mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Hayley formed a Walk MS team, Hayley’s Hope, and in 2007, as Hayley prepared to attend Dartmouth College, Michaela was about to launch her own Walk MS team, Michaela’s Miracle. To honor their memory and the mark they made against MS, the Petit MS Youth Award was established four years ago. The award is presented each year to a young person in our community who compels others to engage and raises awareness and funds to fight MS.

Anya Corso, a sixth-grader at Derby Middle School, exemplifies everything we want to recognize with this award. Anya’s mother has lived with multiple sclerosis for 13 years and Anya set out in 2010 to help find a cure by fundraising for Walk MS. She went door-to-door asking neighbors for help as well as reaching out to friends and family for anything they could donate to her cause.

By the end of the 2010 Walk MS, Corso had raised an astounding $7,300, the most last year for any student in Connecticut.  For all of her hard work, determination and fervor, I am proud to honor ANYA CORSO with the HAYLEY AND MICHAELA PETIT MS YOUTH AWARD