Rudy Rowell loves the solitude of hiking — the quiet time surrounded by the bucolic nature of his native North Carolina.

The Cary resident loves it so much that a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis wasn’t going to keep him from the hobby.

It has had to change his approach though.

He takes it little slower now on sojourns through favorite spots like Umstead Park and the Appalachian Trail — but he still goes.

Hiking, along with family and friends, is part of what has helped him cope since his diagnosis in March.

The 37-year-old had already been showing symptoms, such as the fatigue and numbness that mark the chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system.

Thought to be an immune disease, there’s no cure for MS. People afflicted by it have to learn how to cope.

And that’s what Rowell is doing, one day at a time — not that it’s been easy.

“The first thing I thought was ‘Crap I’m going to be in a wheelchair,’” Rowell said in his gravely voice, about hearing his diagnosis.

But Rowell is determined to live fully and not let the disease beat him — one of the reasons he wants to keep hiking.

He wants to show other MS sufferers that they don’t have to give up doing what they enjoy, he said.

He still worries though.

He works as an engineering field-services technician for the Town of Cary and the job requires a lot of physical exertion.

He tears up when he talks about having to consider how he’ll support his family if he can’t do his job one day.

It’s been his family who have helped get him through. He lets sons Jonathan, 12 and Jason, 8, ask him questions as they want. He doesn’t hide anything and they see him injecting himself with MS treatments daily.

And it’s his wife, Michelle, whom he turns to when he needs to talk.

Michelle was his high school sweetheart in Fuquay-Varina. She’s been a great sounding board for his tumultuous feelings.

“You definitely need someone to talk to about your feelings. If you don’t it just festers. It just makes you sour and bitter,” Rowell said.

But Rowell knows that those feelings are a part of learning to live with his disease.

“I just want to help other people out there who have MS know that these are normal feelings,” he said. He hopes to raise awareness of MS by doing things like walk fundraisers.

And he wants to keep hiking.

His diagnosis has made him appreciate each day fully and to be thankful for what he’s got.

He hopes to soon return to the Appalachian Trail, where he has already hiked several miles.

He may go it a little slower this time, but he’ll still go. His goal is to have hiked the whole trail one day.

For information about MS visit NationalMSsociety.org.