The fifth annual Team Hope Walk is set for Saturday, May 2, in Flowood, an event that raises awareness and research funding for Huntington’s disease.
Around 200 families across Mississippi are affected by Huntington’s disease, a terminal neurogenerative disorder that leads to the breakdown of nerve cells in the brain, while an estimated 41,000 suffer from the disease in the U.S.
The walk is held each year at the Flowood Nature Park and is strategically scheduled in May, which is Huntington’s Disease Awareness Month. Team Hope leaders are not only aiming to use the walk as a way to raise awareness and funds in an ongoing trek to find a cure but also to show those suffering that they have scores of supporters behind them.
“We’re trying to find people suffering from this disease and let them know they’re not alone,” said Heather Thurgood Wilmoth, an advocacy leader for the walk’s supporting group, the Huntington’s Disease Society of America.
Wilmoth, who also works for SuperTalk Mississippi Media, has seen her husband Nathan and stepchild diagnosed with Huntington’s disease. She describes the disease as ALS, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s hitting “all at the same time.”
Work by Wilmoth and other HDSA supporters across the country has resulted in millions being raised for Huntington’s disease research. With Mississippi being home to the HDSA Center of Excellence at the University of Mississippi Medical Center – one of roughly 70 facilities of its kind in the country, offering care for those with the disease in Jackson – funds raised through the Flowood walk will go straight to the center.
“At the moment, there is no treatment nor cure for Huntington’s disease. Like many families, we share our story as well to bring awareness,” Wilmoth explained. “Our family has come up with a saying: With awareness comes funding, with funding comes research, and with research comes hope for a treatment or even better a cure.”
The upcoming Team Hope Walk will be the first year of a new format, where fundraising is peer-to-peer. This means the walk will be free to participate in while registrants will fundraise for incentive prizes, Wilmoth explained. For example, each participant who raises $100 will receive a t-shirt and so on.
Registration opens the day of the walk at 8 a.m. The walk will officially begin at 9 a.m. Participants can go ahead and register online and begin raising money for the cause here.
“We hope everyone will join us at the 2026 Mississippi Team Hope Walk to help spread awareness for this disease as well as raise money to help fight Huntington’s,” Thurgood said.