Ellington

William Khazaal, a senior business student and father of two, is busy creating his own company. What most people don’t know about him is that he is living with multiple sclerosis (MS).

With a publishing date near the end of March, Khazall and four other business students are writing a children’s book that will help people living with MS explain the disease to their children. Their company, called “MS Children’s Book,” portrays many characters in order to explain to children how diverse the disease can be.

MS attacks the central nervous system, spinal cord and brain. There are more than 400,000 cases of the disease in the United States, though every case is different and symptoms can range from minor fatigue to paralysis.

“It is like a finger print almost,” Khazaal said, who was diagnosed in July 2009. “What is true for me might not be true for other people.”

Senior Molly Massena, junior Adam Greenberg, senior Eugene Kim and senior Zac Raasch began working with Khazaal on the nonprofit organization in ENTRE 472 — a course called “Creating A Company.” The class requires students to build a business plan, present their idea to investors and later develop their product.

Knowing Khazaal was living with the disease and Massena’s desire to focus on a social cause, the group decided to work with the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Using Facebook, the group asked people related affected by the disease what kind of book they would like to see.

An overwhelming number of people wanted to see a children’s book that helps family members living with the disease reach out to their children. Massena could tell right away that their book was going to be something that people could relate to.

“I’m kind of surprised that nothing like this has been done before,” she said.

The idea for the story stemmed from the authors’ personal experiences.

The symptoms Khazaal faces are extreme fatigue, seeing double, blurry vision and getting dizzy, which his 5-year-old son, Gabriel, witnessed when Khazaal was taken away on a stretcher last August.

Khazaal had been diagnosed with the disease 13 months before the incident, and he knew he had to explain the illness to his child but didn’t know how.

“[Children] have to understand why their parents can’t play with them on a certain day,” Khazaal said. “When you leave the doctors office … there is nothing that they give you that will help you describe it to your kids.”

Children will be creating the illustrations for the book, and the authors said they would like to work with others who have MS or are related to someone with the illness. Gabriel and his schoolmates will be providing some of the pictures.

Raasch, who has been in charge of connecting with different writers, has finished 30 percent of the book so far. He has been in contact with people who have MS and have volunteered to contribute their story to the project.

One of the challenges he faces with writing the story is that every person experiences different symptoms. Khazaal, who maintains high levels of energy and goes to class full time, considers himself lucky compared to some members of the Multiple Sclerosis Society who may face greater challenges related to the disease.

“When they have a flare up and they can’t do anything for a couple of weeks, you start to realize that, when it hits, it hits hard,” Raasch said.

Greenburg added that time is their largest constraint. Finding publishers who can turn a product around on a timeline set by their class has been a complicated task. The authors haven’t found one yet, but said they hope to have a publisher secured in the next few weeks.

Massena said that students in business school don’t generally focus on social causes. However, working on this project has been more fulfilling than any other class she has taken. She said that their company is not profit driven and that their product will be useful for a specific group of people.

“Here’s a company where we’re working our butts off and we aren’t going to get any profits, and that is really inspirational,” Massena said.

Their goal is to produce something that will be used well beyond the end of the quarter. Raasch hopes to strengthen the bond between parents and children in a time when families need to come together the most.

“Multiple sclerosis is going to be relevant for a long time,” Khazaal said. “It’s not like writing a fiction book that won’t be popular later. People are going to continue being diagnosed and this book will continue to sell until they find a cure.”

Reach reporter Mary Jean Spadafora at news@dailyuw.com.