CNN Heroes: Battling MS with Kevin Bacon

(CNN) -- When Robin Maxwell started feeling numbness and tingling in her legs in the fall of 2006, she wasn't overly concerned.

Having recently run both a marathon and another long-distance race, the 39-year-old resident of Charlottesville, Virginia, figured she'd just been overdoing it.

But when the pain moved up to her stomach and neck, she became alarmed. In January 2007, her doctor called her with the diagnosis: she had multiple sclerosis.

"I fell apart," she remembered. "Those were just the darkest days of my life."

Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a progressive neurological disorder. According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, an estimated 2.5 million people suffer from it worldwide. A new case is diagnosed every hour.

Symptoms can vary greatly from person to person and can include blurred vision, loss of balance, poor coordination, slurred speech, tremors and eventually paralysis and blindness.

While treatment and technological advances are helping people lead more productive lives, there is no known cure. For Maxwell -- a marathoner, triathlete and mother of two -- the news was a devastating blow.

Not long after her diagnosis, Maxwell heard about a Web site that actor Kevin Bacon had started called SixDegrees.org.

Inspired by the college trivia game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, the site connected people with various charities for fundraising purposes. There was also a contest.

"When we first launched the site," Bacon said, "the six people who had the most donations ... I matched $10,000 each to the charity that they were supporting." Watch Bacon and Maxwell discuss their fundraising efforts »

Maxwell jumped at the chance to raise money for MS.

"It took me 30 seconds to sign up," she said. "On the first day alone, I raised almost $850."

Maxwell set her sights on winning the contest. Joined by her family and friends, she sent out hundreds of e-mails urging people to donate and forward her request to anyone else they knew.

For Maxwell, the contest provided a sense of direction -- and a meaningful distraction -- during a tumultuous time in her life. "Getting on the Web site gave me something to hope for and look forward to. It was incredible."

By the end of March, she had raised nearly $18,000 for her local MS chapter. And she finished as one of the top six fundraisers on Bacon's site and won $10,000 for MS research.

Bacon was impressed. "She's got that kind of energy. And she's got that kind of fight," he said. "I think that's why she won."

Maxwell soon started her own foundation and began speaking at and participating in MS fundraising events. She even started a clothing line emblazoned with the motto she coined for herself: Perfect Health.

"I knew that if I pictured myself as being sick, it would affect my family, children, husband, so I decided I was in 'Perfect Health' and monogrammed that on some of my clothes to help me picture it."

The T-shirts are now a hot seller -- and another way she is able to raise money for the battle against MS.

"Fundraising and activism," said Maxwell, "has brought in so much joy. ... I can be a part of what's going to make the situation better, not just for me, but for so many people."

Since February 2007, Maxwell has raised more than $50,000 for MS research. She hopes to find a cure -- even though she admits the goal is daunting.

In the meantime, Maxwell is determined to show that MS won't stop her or define her life.

"It is difficult in every aspect -- physically and mentally -- but for some reason, I just had this reaction,"she said. "I realized that I can set an example. I have to stay positive."

She also recognizes that the battle is much bigger than her own.

"I really feel the obligation, not just for my own future but for the other people in this country that are suffering with MS, to work on behalf of them, especially if they're not really in a position to do it for themselves."

Bacon says Maxwell's determination is inspiring and heroic: "She's not lying down without a fight. ... She's a beautiful warrior." E-mail to a friend

CNN producers Kathleen Toner and Lyda Ely contributed to this report.