Palisadian Retires from 40 Years of Bike MS

At 88 years old, Palisadian Ella Zarky is a force to be reckoned with – having raised $145,000 for the National MS Society over the years and spending nearly seven days a week working with the homeless at various area shelters.

But her most recent accomplishment was completing the Bike MS Coastal Challenge for the National MS Society earlier this month, when Zarky biked 30 miles along the route from Santa Monica to Santa Barbara to raise money for the organization.

She said her age is a factor in deciding that this was the last Bike MS she will ride in.

“The event was hugely successful,” Zarky told the Palisadian-Post, wearing a Bike MS t-shirt, jeans and a dusting of powdered sugar on her lips from an early afternoon pastry.

Zarky has been a Pacific Palisades resident since 1983 and participated in her first Bike MS event the same year. She has been riding in the event off and on ever since and has raised $68,000 for Bike MS alone, but has been actively raising money for the National MS Society for nearly 40 years.

“My parents always believed you should give and donate your time,” Zarky said, a tenet which she is clearly living out on a daily basis.

And funding research for MS, or multiple sclerosis, is a topic near and dear to her heart. Zarky said her niece and nephew were diagnosed in young adulthood with the debilitating disease, which affects the central nervous system and can cause fatigue and weakness at its mildest, with seizures, pain and hearing loss among its more severe symptoms.

“I’m so freakishly physically able that I want to help them too,” Zarky told the Post.

As for how she looks decades younger than her real age, Zarky credits her tendency toward physical activity and staying socially involved – along with keeping positive.

“Don’t dwell on your aches and pains. Be stoic,” Zarky said. “And don’t be afraid to do things. And even if you’re afraid, do them anyway.”

For more information or to donate, visit nationalmssociety.org or opcc.org.