{"id":377455,"date":"2026-04-06T06:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T06:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/377455\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T06:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T06:42:11","slug":"how-is-david-osmond-coping-with-multiple-sclerosis-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/377455\/","title":{"rendered":"How is David Osmond coping with multiple sclerosis? \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Osmond advocates for MS through the Race to Erase MS and sits on its board.Nancy Davis founded group to boost collaborative research efforts for multiple sclerosis.The money raised and research collaboration have helped bring treatments to patients.<\/p>\n

David Osmond\u2019s no stranger to the stage \u2014 a musician, on Broadway and as part of The Osmonds 2nd Generation singing group alongside his seven brothers, all sons of Alan Osmond, one of the original Osmond Brothers.<\/p>\n

But Osmond shares something beside musical talent and a love of performing with his famous father. When he was 26, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the disease that eventually curtailed his dad\u2019s performing career. <\/p>\n

The literal translation of multiple sclerosis is \u201cmany scars.\u201d It\u2019s an unpredictable autoimmune disease of the central nervous system \u2014 including the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves \u2014 that can interfere with how information passes between the brain and the rest of the body, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The estimate is at least 1 million people in the U.S. now share the diagnosis.<\/p>\n

The immune system attacks myelin, the protective protein-and-fatty sheath around nerve fibers, creating scar tissue or \u201clesions\u201d that can\u2019t carry electrical impulses normally. Traditionally, it\u2019s seen as having two forms: The relapsing-remitting version that David Osmond has, which flares and ebbs, and the progressive form that Alan Osmond, 76, has lived with for many years.<\/p>\n

Usually referred to by the shorthand name MS, the disease shows up differently in people, but often includes fatigue, problems with memory and varying degrees of mobility impairment. For a while, David Osmond used a wheelchair, though he\u2019s back on his feet again.<\/p>\n

Amid his busy performing schedule, Osmond, 46, now lends his very recognizable name to the Race to Erase MS, a massive fundraising effort that stretches back to the dark ages of the disease and which has contributed to a majority of the big and fairly recent breakthroughs leading to treatments to ease the pain and misery of those who have MS. More progress has been made in the past five years of the disease\u2019s history than in the previous 100, he said.<\/p>\n

The making of the Race to Erase MS\"\"Nancy Davis arrives at the 31st Annual Race to Erase MS Gala on Friday, May 10, 2024, at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. | Richard Shotwell, Invision via the Associated Press <\/p>\n

When Nancy Davis was 33 \u2014 just over half her lifetime ago \u2014 she was diagnosed with MS. Doctors described the sad reality of the disease at the time: no cure, no FDA-approved treatment, no idea why it happens or good suggestions about how to manage it. She was told that even her hands would weaken to the point that \u201cyou\u2019ll be lucky if you can hold a TV remote.\u201d The field of medicine had nothing to offer her.<\/p>\n

Figuring she was too young to give up and not one to sit around, Davis decided to get a second opinion and also see what MS research was being done. To her dismay, she found that \u201call the best doctors in our country were doing identical research\u201d and none of them realized it as they plugged away in their research silos.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t find anyone to tell her she didn\u2019t have MS, but Davis told Deseret News that amid her discouragement and fear over the diagnosis, she experienced a \u201clightbulb moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would happen if I could get the best and the brightest doctors and researchers to work together as a team with the idea to never duplicate research but to constantly communicate with each other,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n

That was the birth of the Race to Erase MS, launched in Aspen, Colorado, as a ski race fundraiser that over time has evolved into a gala in Los Angeles, where she now lives, featuring celebrities, brilliant researchers, families with a tie to MS, well-wishers and philanthropists. <\/p>\n

David Osmond is on the national board of directors. Other public figures with MS including Christina Applegate, Selma Blair, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Jack Osbourne and Montel Williams are among those who have MS and are using their platforms to educate others.<\/p>\n

\"\"Television personality Montel Williams, who has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, right, gestures during a Capitol Hill news conference Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002, where he discussed what he called the damaging effects of pending legislation that would erode current patent protection laws, laws that promote the development of new medicines. Pharmaceutical companies are waging what appears to be a successful lobbying and public relations campaign to thwart a Senate-passed bill favoring their generic competitors. Nancy Davis of Los Angeles, who has been diagnosed with MS, left, and fellow television personality Leeza Gibbons, center, look on. | Rick Bowmer, Associated Press <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Race to Erase MS has become a force that is changing lives in real time. Over the years, Davis\u2019 brainchild has raised nearly $60 million to fund research.<\/p>\n

David Osmond\u2019s denial<\/p>\n

On Christmas Eve 2005, David Osmond got his first hint of MS \u2014 pain that hit him like a fire. He was ready to relax after a show, but when he took his shoes off, he told his then-girlfriend, \u201cValerie, my feet feel like they\u2019re being actually crushed by a steamroller, like I\u2019m being run over. It\u2019s this burning crushing pain I\u2019ve never experienced and it started in my toes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite all the medical advancements in recent years, Osmond told Deseret News that sensation remains.<\/p>\n

\"\"David Osmond, market president at TribeHouse, poses at TribeHouse’s office in Pleasant Grove on Friday, March 27, 2026. Osmond has multiple sclerosis and has worked to raise money for a cure. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News <\/p>\n

Although his dad has had MS as long as he can remember, Osmond said he didn\u2019t understand the mechanics and \u201cit didn\u2019t even cross my mind because my symptoms were so vastly different than anything he had experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

The younger Osmond\u2019s version would prove to be much more aggressive; within \u201ca matter of weeks,\u201d he said he was worse off than his dad had been in decades with MS.<\/p>\n

Osmond lost the use of his legs, so he needed a wheelchair. The diagnosis came from a doctor who looked at all of the scans Osmond had undergone and told him, \u201cSon, you\u2019ve been through the war. This looks like MS for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Osmond responded, \u201cNo. It\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will there be a cure for MS? <\/p>\n

The fundraising is very important, but the heart of Davis\u2019 work was creation of the Center Without Walls. She convinced eight of \u201carguably the best doctors in our country to work together, which was a magical thing to make happen at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The center \u2014 with research funding from the Race to Erase \u2014 has played a role in 18 of the 25 MS treatments that now have Food and Drug Administration approval, with more in the pipeline, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe do the pilot study for them in the very beginning, we come up with the concept, the idea and the doctors and we fund it in the beginning, and then they turn into FDA-approved drugs, which is really exciting,\u201d Davis said. \u201cFor someone being diagnosed today, it\u2019s such a different thing. There\u2019s so much hope and a lot of people will be independent their whole life as opposed to being in a wheelchair, not having their independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Center Without Walls operates on simple but unusual rules. For one thing, the funds raised are only used on new research and innovation. If it\u2019s been done before, they\u2019re not putting money into it again, which keeps new ideas flourishing.<\/p>\n

The center includes physicians and scientists from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Oregon Health & Science University, University of California Los Angeles, University of California San Francisco, University of Southern California and Yale University.<\/p>\n

Those receiving the money have to report what they\u2019re finding every month and share data back and forth with each other. Anyone\u2019s research \u2014 whether it succeeds or fails \u2014 is everyone\u2019s stepping stone. They meet in person a couple of times a year and \u201chave these wonderful forums and they report all their studies that they\u2019re doing, everything good and bad,\u201d Davis said. \u201cNot every study\u2019s going to end up with a positive result, but the bad is just as important as the good because you have to communicate on what\u2019s happening. And you have a much better shot of finding a cure, so that\u2019s what we do by putting the best and the brightest together. It\u2019s so key to what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the in-person gatherings happens alongside the gala; the 33rd annual event is June 5. The day of, the researchers meet and discuss their individual efforts. The day after the gala, they are part of a daylong symposium, where they share findings with each other and with the families where someone has MS. Families that can\u2019t come can attend the symposium virtually. Information is available at erasems.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Will MS be cured? \u201cWe know it will happen,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWe\u2019re working really hard and we keep coming up with brilliant things every year that are changing a lot of lives. We wish we could do it at a faster pace, obviously,\u201d since MS is \u201cmiserable, a nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Osmond\u2019s battle<\/p>\n

The Osmonds all likely know the story David Osmond said is part of family history. When Alan Osmond was diagnosed in his late 30s, he was given an aspirin and told, \u201cCome back in six months. Maybe we\u2019ll have something for you then.\u201d They\u2019ve also heard that years ago his friend Annette Funicello, a popular Mouseketeer and actress who had MS, told Alan Osmond, \u201cIt\u2019s not the disease that gets you down, it\u2019s the lack of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, he said, his dad is \u201ca larger-than-life, uber-optimistic character\u201d who decided, \u201cI may have MS, but MS does not have me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"From left to right, Alan Osmond, singer David Osmond, and singer Donny Osmond arrive at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Dinner of Champions benefit gala in Los Angeles on Monday, Sept. 27, 2010. | Dan Steinberg, Associated Press <\/p>\n

The younger Osmond decided that was a good way to approach it. And he found that optimism was handy when \u201cI started tripping and falling and ultimately not being able to do anything for myself and I had to drag myself across the floor just to get to a restroom facility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osmond said his \u201cdenial was aggressive at the beginning.\u201d Now he wants to know everything: How fast it\u2019s moving, what might happen next and what he can do about it. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s been through stages, not all consecutive, of feeling hope and then feeling almost like multiple sclerosis mocks him, Osmond said. Although he has been up and down, he is especially grateful for a mostly hope-filled disposition that\u2019s similar to Alan Osmond\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Osmond changed what he could, starting with diet, cleansing his body and giving it every chance to grow strong and heal. He\u2019s been as aggressive as the disease as he fights it and has left the wheelchair behind, though he kept the electric scooter and cane for moments he might need them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in massive pain every second of the day, but my hands are moving again. My toes move again. I\u2019m not able to quite run, I can\u2019t quite jump and I hide it pretty darn good, but I\u2019m back on stage. I drove a car today.\u201d <\/p>\n

Life, he said, is full of \u201clittle things that are so miraculous in my life.\u201d <\/p>\n

He proposed to that girlfriend, Valerie, from his wheelchair and has been walking without assistance since their wedding day eight months later.<\/p>\n

He credits both lifestyle changes and modern medicine and said he tries to eat \u201cas healthy and raw and pure\u201d as he can.<\/p>\n

As for the disease, it has proven to be a terrible blessing. \u201cCrazy as it sounds, it\u2019s been one of the best things that\u2019s happened to me.\u201d He said he appreciates everything more, including the ability to genuinely see others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my toes moved for the first time again when I wanted them to, oh I wish I could gift that, bottle it up and just give it to everybody to say \u2018Look what you have. Don\u2019t take it for granted,\u2019\u201d Osmond said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThough the cards I\u2019ve been dealt are not great, I also recognize I can see what everyone else is holding and I don\u2019t want those cards. I\u2019m going to stick with this. We\u2019ve all got pain, we all have challenges and you start to see that vividly because I\u2019m in that space of pain every second, where every step I take is a miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"David Osmond, market president at TribeHouse, poses at TribeHouse’s office in Pleasant Grove on Friday, March 27, 2026. Osmond has multiple sclerosis and has worked to raise money for a cure. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News <\/p>\n

Doctors have told him optimism is both a gift and a necessity with MS, making a clinical difference. One told him, \u201cWhen I diagnose someone, they have one of two ways they\u2019re going to go. If there is a negative disposition, a negative outlook where everything is terrible, it goes that way. If you have that positive outlook, being not bitter but better, we see that you do better.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds it\u2019s easier to be positive because he has a wife he adores and two girls and a boy he would do anything for.<\/p>\n

\u201cMS,\u201d he added, only half joking, \u201dis a terrible way to meet great people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Effective drugs for treating MS<\/p>\n

Two drugs in particular have been what Davis calls a \u201cgame changer:\u201d Ocrevus and Kesimpta. \u201cThey\u2019re basically the same drug packaged rather differently. Kesimpta, you give yourself a shot once a month. The other you have an infusion twice a year. They do the same thing: They kill your B cells.\u201d<\/p>\n

When B cell levels are high, it sparks a reaction where T cells attack each other. \u201cThat\u2019s your MS,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Davis said the need for multiple treatment options is important because people respond differently or can\u2019t take certain medications.<\/p>\n

Dr. David Hafler of Yale University is a neuroimmunologist and the Neurology Department chair. Davis describes him as \u201ca very important part of our Center Without Walls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hafler worries that progress in many diseases, not just MS, will slow because so much of the federal funding for disease research has been cut. Not everyone has a Nancy Davis behind them and even great private funding can\u2019t do it all. He hopes that promoting \u201cbig wins\u201d will turn research funding around.<\/p>\n

When it comes to wins, he thinks MS has had a doozy. <\/p>\n

Hafler decided to study MS when he was 17 and has been at it for more than half a century, starting as a freshman at Emory College. He\u2019s 74 now. In that time, Hafler said researchers have gone from not knowing what causes MS and having no treatment to being pretty sure they understand its roots. He\u2019s among those who believe getting the Epstein-Barr virus kicks off the process that will become MS in some people, based on what he calls an \u201cincreasingly refined and probably correct working model.\u201d<\/p>\n

While much of the world divides MS into a relapsing-remitting form David Osmond has and the progressive form that beset Alan Osmond, Hafler prefers to divide it into two different disease phases: the autoimmune phase and the neurodegenerative phase. <\/p>\n

The doozy? \u201cWe know how to cure the autoimmune phase,\u201d he said, but it has to be done early. He admits that \u201cthe word cure is a dangerous word because it\u2019s never 100%, there\u2019s always variability, but we have treatments that are so effective that if a patient doesn\u2019t respond, we start looking for other diseases,\u201d Hafler told Deseret News. \u201cThey\u2019re 98% effective in very early disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

But MS can change, evolving from an inflammatory autoimmune disease to a neurodegenerative form that\u2019s a lot like Alzheimer\u2019s or Parkinson\u2019s disease. Once it becomes neurodegenerative, it\u2019s very hard to treat, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t take someone in a wheelchair and cure them, but if we treat someone very early, we can stop the disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

He and other researchers have a new paper under review that suggests Epstein-Barr virus, which is better known for causing mononucleosis, is the root cause. If one is infected as a child, it\u2019s not a risk factor for MS, he said, but as an adolescent, \u201cit\u2019s a major risk factor.\u201d Some of the research funding came from Race to Erase MS.<\/p>\n

\"\"This image provided by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows an illustration of the outer coating of the Epstein-Barr virus, one of the world\u2019s most common viruses. New research is showing stronger evidence that Epstein-Barr infection could set some people on the path to later developing multiple sclerosis. | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services via the Associated Press <\/p>\n

Hafler reports that 100% of MS patients have been infected with Epstein-Barr virus, compared with about 90% of the general population.<\/p>\n

He cited research by his friend and colleague at Harvard, Alberto Ascherio, using serial blood samples from 4 million military recruits that showed MS is preceded an average of roughly seven years by an Epstein-Barr infection. Now the theory is the virus infects B cells, turning them into something that \u201cjuices up\u201d the immune system in such a way that someone who is genetically susceptible will have T cells attack the brain. <\/p>\n

MS is a complex genetic disease, he said, not exactly hereditary, but with a genetic susceptibility to autoimmune diseases. Research has identified about 280 genetic variants associated with risks that affect the immune system. If you don\u2019t have those genes, getting MS is highly unlikely. Using the UK Biobank data, researchers saw that some individuals can\u2019t clear the virus and that genes associated with that are MS genes.<\/p>\n

Singing a new tune<\/p>\n

David Osmond has done a lot of thinking about what the future holds. And he\u2019s decided that if you ask \u201cWhy me?\u201d for the bad things that happen, you have to turn it around and ask that for the good things, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned that I\u2019m not allowed to ask it any more unless I make sure that I ask the exact same question always for every single moment of happiness and joy, great or small, whatever it is that comes into my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"David Osmond, who has multiple sclerosis and has worked to raise money for a cure, poses in Lindon on Friday, March 27, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Osmond advocates for MS through the Race to Erase MS and sits on its board.Nancy Davis founded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,146,85,46,9588],"class_list":{"0":"post-377455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-news-feed-national"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}