As some of you may be aware, in June 2023 aged just 36, Dwayne Wells our Head of Commercial for Arriva Yorkshire was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease; a condition which has received a lot of publicity, particularly in Yorkshire following the awareness around England Rugby player Rob Burrow.

Dwayne married his wife Kerry in May 2023 and the happy couple were looking forward to future plans with their 10 year old daughter, Evalyn. However a matter of weeks later, their dreams were shattered with the diagnosis of MND. Despite this tragic news, and after some time coming to terms with the diagnosis, Dwayne and his family are doing all they can to allow him to remain active and in employment whilst also ticking off as many items on their bucket list as possible.

Further bad news has recently landed with the family facing up to £50,000 of costs to amend their home to suit his future needs. Their family home in Saddleworth has a stepped entrance and will need significant works to enable a large wheelchair to use it. There are some grants available but not enough to cover these costs, and moving to a more suitable home is almost impossible as banks will not consider him for a mortgage.

I have always been struck by the level of generosity of my colleagues at Arriva and the wider bus industry, and the amazing work they do to raise funds for charity. I hope that we can now come together to support one of our own. Previous fundraising by Dwayne and his friends and family have gone to the MNDA charity, and if by any chance there are surplus donations, these would also be sent there.