GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — We are currently a week into ArtPrize 2024, with another week remaining for art enthusiasts to check out this year’s entries in downtown Grand Rapids.
While you’re out and about, you might just spot a giant paper mâché shoe at Cornerstone Church.
Commissioned by the Defeat MSA Alliance, the art piece holds a little extra meaning below the surface.
Multiple system atrophy, or MSA, is a rare neurodegenerative disorder with symptoms akin to ALS or Parkinson’s disease in the early stages.
MSA can sometimes be severe and develop faster.
The disease is not quite as well known, and it is difficult to identify, especially by doctors who may not be as experienced in recognizing it.
The shoe is meant to symbolize the isolation MSA patients feel upon receiving their diagnoses.
"My mother passed away from MSA back in March, and I was lucky in that I'm a scientist, and I had resources to get her into a clinic so that she could get properly diagnosed,” says Van Andel Institute Chief of Staff David Cabrera. “A lot of people who experience this disease find that it gets misdiagnosed often as Parkinson's, and you know, the quicker you can get it diagnosed correctly, the better you can take care of the disease.”
"You feel very isolated,” says caregiver Chad Lecompte. “So the idea that it could go on and other people could become aware of it, it may bring more attention and more research, so that maybe in the future, families that have a loved one with this disorder won't have to suffer quite the same way that the families that are suffering now."
After the festival wraps up, the shoe will make its way to Australia to further its mission and inspire others abroad.
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