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Son to host benefit for Mom
By Amie Cribley
acribley@mscd.edu

Photo by Heather A. Longway-Burke • longway@mscd.edu Sandy Wachter attends her son Luke Wachter’s performance with her husband John Wachter, at the Metro State Wind Band Celebration April 20 at the King Center.

Imagine wishing you could dance, walk or clean the house and being incapable of doing so. These mundane acts are typically taken for granted, but not by Sandy Wachter, who has multiple sclerosis.

The worst frustration for Sandy was “giving up normalcy. You don’t realize it until it’s gone,” she said.

But her son, Luke Wachter, a Metro student majoring in music performance and education, is doing something about it. Luke and two of his peers – Yolanda Calderon, a flautist, and Joe Atencio, a pianist – are putting together a benefit concert for their family and friends who have MS.

Luke, Calderon and Atencio realized they had all been affected by MS and felt like there wasn’t a lot they could do, Luke said. They decided they could make a difference using their talents and put together the idea for the concert.

“I was really touched by them wanting to do something like this,” Sandy said. “I’m very honored that they would take this on as a cause.”

Sandy was diagnosed in 2000, but she believes she has had MS most of her life. The symptoms were difficult to diagnose for her because it was just a problem with her knee that “didn’t seem neurological,” she said.

The concert, which Luke, Calderon and Atencio will all play in, will benefit those with MS and the proceeds will go toward research.

Luke is a percussionist in the wind ensemble, orchestra and percussion ensemble at Metro. He has been playing since grade school.

Sandy realizes that her family gets impatient with her MS because it takes so long to do things, but “my biggest advantage is the support system,” she said. “I’m really lucky to have all the people I have.”

She has progressed through a cane, forearm crutches, wheelchair and now a scooter. Sandy said she despised the wheelchair.

John Wachter, Sandy’s husband, said a person becomes invisible in a wheelchair, but people are curious about the scooter.

“It’s really easy to be a victim,” Sandy said. “It just puts a crimp in your style.”

Wachter hasn’t run into things she is incapable of doing; she just realizes she has to do it in a different way.

“For my kids to have the initiative to do this is awesome,” Wachter said regarding the concert.
MS is an autoimmune disease, which means the body’s immune system attacks itself. The cells attacked with MS are in the brain and spinal cord. When the immune system attacks the protective, fatty layer on cells called the myelin sheath, scars are formed and signals sent through the nervous system get short-circuited, according to the Rocky Mountain MS Center website.

The benefit is planned to be held in the concert hall in the King Center. The date is not yet set. Luke, Calderon and Atencio will sell the tickets personally and are trying to get donations for a silent auction. All of the proceeds will go to the Rocky Mountain MS Center.