Wanda Bouchard-Barry has been a volunteer in Regina for decades, giving her time to multiple charities all while living with Multiple Sclerosis for the past 32 years.

“It's not a death sentence,” said Bouchard-Barry. “It’s something that you're going to have for the rest of your life. How you choose to live with it is your choice”

The MS Bike ride has been the cause closest to her heart since her diagnosis, and she has been volunteering with the MS Society for around 27 years.

Bouchard Barry’s bike team, Zena’s Warriors, has been riding together since 1993. In that time, the team has raised over $400,000 for the MS Society.

She said she hopes that money can create some change for the next generation of people diagnosed with MS.

I've got to do something while I’m here because there is the future generation that is going to be diagnosed with MS,” said Bouchard Barry. “I don't ever want them to go through what I had to go through to get diagnosed in the first place”

The hours have been long over the years for Bouchard-Barry, sometimes working 24 to 48 hour volunteer shifts to keep events running smoothly.

But in that time, she’s become an important pillar at the MS Society, helping promote fundraisers and acting as a mentor for some dealing with the same diagnosis.

“Being an open person to talk to because they're newly diagnosed, I'm now into year 32. I’ve been living with this a long time, we've adapted, we change things,” said Bouchard Barry.

She was nominated for Hometown Hero by her sister Heather Yaworsky, who said she gives so much of her time to charities, and still has a selfless attitude, despite living with MS.

“She does absolutely everything, anything, for anybody. It doesn’t matter who you are, whether you’re family or not. She’s there to help you if she can,” said Yaworsky.

Volunteering has become a part of her identity. She has given up nearly 30 years of her life helping others, but said the long days and nights spent volunteering is all made worth it by a potential future without MS.

“It's a responsibility; something that you don't take lightly, you put your heart and soul into that,” said Bouchard-Barry. “It’s just part of who I am and what I do, it just takes a little bit of your time.”