Female Speaker: A little over a decade ago Jim Levanduski, a young family man and avid hunter was puzzled by doubts of numbness in his upper body. The steel worker reacted with a mixture of confusion and uncertainty when doctors gave him the diagnosis. Jim Levanduski: When he told me that I had MS and I asked him, what's MS, you know, its multiple sclerosis, I didn't know. Jeffrey Cohen: Let's look at some films from someone with MS. So this is an MRI scan, this is the so called FLAIR images which shows cross sections of the brain. Here is the brain within the skull, here are normal fluid filled sacs within the brain, the ventricles and what's abnormal here are these white spots or so called plaques or lesion. Female Speaker: Dr. Cohen and his colleagues are striving to understand the complex mysteries of MS starting with its elusive cause. Jeffrey Cohen: Ultimately the cause of MS remains unclear, we know that abnormal inflammation is what accounts for the damage in the nervous system, but what causes that abnormal inflammation still remains unknown. The prevailing theories have been that it's either due to an inherited abnormality of immune system or perhaps it's triggered by an infection. Female Speaker: Researchers do know multiple sclerosis affects the central nervous system and can profoundly affect a person's coordination and mobility. For Jim, this means he can no longer work and he gets fatigued easily, but he has a more positive emotional perspective on the disease than he did back in the beginning. Jim Levanduski: It's something that's out of my control and mentally it took me a lot of years and lot of struggling to realize that it's not my fault. I did a lot of crying back in early 90s, I'm too big to cry, I don't do it anymore. Female Speaker: Based on MRI brain scans researchers have learned that the body attempts to fix the damaged nerves caused by MS and in an effort to turn the tables these researchers are now working to assist the body in regenerating healthy tissues. Jeffrey Cohen: We now realize that probably a variety of ways in which we could stimulate repair and so that's a very active area for research in multiple sclerosis. Female Speaker: MS experts like Dr. Rudick and Dr. Cohen say the best advice that they have for MS patients is to remain hopeful. Richard Rudick: MS is above anything, an exercise in hope. Jeffrey Cohen: They should have hope because we have effective treatments and we are developing more treatments everyday. They don't need to change their plans, their goals, their aspirations. Female Speaker: Dr. Rudick has a hope of his own that could become a reality. Richard Rudick: In a reasonably near future we are going to cure MS.