Teen football star taking on MS head-on

KATY, TX (KTRK) -- This weekend, thousands of cyclists will ride 180 miles from Houston to Austin in the 31st annual BP MS 150. It's one of the largest fundraisers for multiple sclerosis in the world.

Most people who suffer from the disease are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50. But MS can affect anyone, even a teenage football quarterback from Katy.

At 15, life was about fishing, family and football for Trent Berger.

"Hopefully, try to make varsity this year and do my best," he said.

The Seven Lakes High School student loves playing quarterback.

"I just like the contact and hitting in general," he said.

That is, until September of 2013, when a strange feeling after a hit one day on the field would change his life. At first, his parents thought it was a football injury.

"It started with tingling in my feet," he said.

"You've pulled something," said his mother, Amy, recalling her reaction. "You have a pinched nerve."

But the tingling got worse, traveling up his back.

"You get tired easily," Trent said. "I couldn't walk up the stairs at school when it was going on."

"It was like he was having a seizure, but he was awake and coherent having a seizure," Trent's father, Brian, told us.

Tests showed multiple sclerosis lesions on his brain. His mother cried at the doctor's words.

"I'm thinking my 15-year-old athletic kid is not going to be walking anymore," said Amy.

But not Trent.

"She thought my life was over and I was done," he said.

"He's really our strength with his attitude towards MS," said Brian.

It's very unusual for a case in someone so young. Trent suffers from remedial-recurring MS. He has to give himself shots throughout the week, always careful of his weakened immune system that can quickly bring symptoms on.

"God has a plan for me," he said. "He already knows what I'm going to do with my future.

Trent is the top fundraiser at the annual walk with a familiar battle cry for any Aggie fan.

"Beat the hell outta MS," he said. And that's what we're going to do, is beat the hell outta MS."

Trent's walk MS team raised more than $40,000 and his family hopes to ride in a BP MS150 soon.