About Motor Neurone Disease Association
MND is a fatal disease of the nervous system. It attacks the nerve cells (motor neurones) that send messages from the brain to the muscles. As these motor neurones gradually die, the muscles stop working.
Every day more damage is done and the body slowly deteriorates. MND can destroy the ability to walk, talk, dress or swallow. People with MND live their lives totally dependent on others for their most basic needs.
The MND Association is the only national organisation of its kind dedicated to working on behalf of people with MND.
- It provides care and support to people with MND, enabling them to live their lives to the full. This includes loaning essential equipment, training association visitors and running a national helpline.
- It promotes scientific research and provides funding to specialists seeking to understand, find treatments and ultimately cure the disease.
- It speaks on behalf of people with MND, demanding the best possible standards of care for all. It successfully campaigns locally, nationally and internationally.
It has established six core care centres that provide essential co-ordinated care services.
Our history
The Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association was founded in 1979 by three small groups of people who had unwittingly had the same idea. They had all come together because of their own heartbreaking personal experiences of MND and were determined to end the nightmare of facing the disease alone.
At that time few people had heard of MND and even fewer knew anything about it. Families affected by this devastating condition were left to cope alone in ignorance and isolation.
These three people were overridingly determined, dedicated and selfless and on October 6 1979 the groups got together and the Association was born.
In its first year the Association generated £20,000 and over the past 21 years that income has grown to over £5 million per annum. It is now a thriving charity true to its original aims of providing support for people with MND and research for a cure.