Greg Seel hadn't seen his old fraternity brother, High Point's William Newman, in quite some time.

So when they reunited at the funeral of a mutual acquaintance, Seel was taken aback by the changes he saw in Newman. The last time they'd been together, Newman hadn't walked with that pronounced limp. He certainly hadn't needed that cane.

But such is the progression of multiple sclerosis, which Newman was diagnosed with in 1982. His symptoms hadn't always been so noticeable, but after a quarter-century, the MS was taking a serious toll.

"When I saw William walk that short journey from the church to the cemetery, and saw how he was struggling, that was just kind of a defining moment for me," says Seel, 50, of Burlington. "It really hit me hard."

Seel decided to do something to honor his old friend. Later this month, when the annual Tour To Tanglewood - a cycling event that raises money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society - takes place, Seel will be among the estimated 2,000 participants, and he'll be riding in Newman's honor.

"I'm gonna do this ride for MS because it's important for you, but it's also important for me to let other people know about it," Seel told Newman several months ago. "I'm gonna ride in your honor - I feel like it's the right thing to do."

Newman, 51, says he was touched by Seel's intentions.

"It's humbling to me that anybody would make a commitment to do that," he says. "He's giving up a lot of weekends to train for the ride, and 90 miles (the distance of the Tour To Tanglewood) is a long way to go on one of those little banana seats."

Seel and Newman met when they were Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity brothers at Elon University (then Elon College) in the late 1970s. Newman, who was a year ahead of Seel, served as Seel's mentor - or "big brother" - in the fraternity, so they got to know each other pretty well.

Upon graduation, Seel stayed in the Burlington area - he's now the city's assistant chief of police - and Newman pursued a career in banking, joining with Wachovia. Newman's career brought him to High Point, but his MS continued to progress until he eventually had to go on disability in 2001.

"That's when I realized my whole career had pretty much been thrown out the window," Newman recalls, "but that's also when I got more committed to working with the MS Society."

In addition to serving on the board of the Central North Carolina Chapter of the National MS Society, Newman has been one of the chapter's biggest ambassadors - sharing his story with countless groups to get the word out about MS - and has won the chapter's coveted Mission Volunteer of the Year award.

"I like to share about my MS challenges and talk about the great things that the MS Society can provide," Newman says. "I tell people it's not the end of the world. And sometimes, if the venue is right, I share my testimony at the same time, and that's been very rewarding for me. If I didn't have my faith, I wouldn't be able to do as well as I've done."

Seel, who's riding with a team of Wachovia employees - since that's where Newman worked - says he was so touched and inspired by his old friend's efforts on behalf of the MS Society that it was worth it for him to commit to training for the upcoming Tour To Tanglewood.

"When I saw William struggling to walk, and even struggling to get in and out of the car - and knowing that's going to be an ongoing struggle for him - doing this 90-mile bike ride didn't seem like too much of a stretch for me to do in order to bring some more awareness to the MS Society," he says.