Story

Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service Crew Manager, Gary Bowcock, is suffering from a life limiting, aggressive form of Motor Neurone Disease and is facing this with the utmost dignity and courage.

His friends at Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service are undertaking numerous fund raising events over the coming months however we need to act fast and raise as much money as possible to assist Gary and his family in making his home as comfortable as possible. Therefore I am asking you to donate what ever you can in order to support Gary and his family at this difficult time.

To raise money for Gary my fund raising challenge is to complete a sponsored Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge involving 40 KM of walking with 5200 FT of ascent within 12 hours. The challenge will take place on 23/04/18. Please make a donation if you are able.

Please see below Gary's words:

Working as a firefighter for 29 years, I have always been extremely fit and healthy, often cycling or even running the 10 mile journey to work and regularly playing golf.

Therefore, when I was diagnosed in October last year with a terrible debilitating disease – Motor Neurone Disease I was utterly devastated. It is a rare condition that only affects 1 in 50,000 people and causes muscles to waste and die.

I had been having symptoms for much longer, since 2016, which started as a slight slurring of my speech which in time has led onto swallowing problems too as well as excruciating cramps and twitching all over my body. Today, my throat muscles have deteriorated to the point that it is now difficult to communicate, eat and drink. I will soon have to have a feeding tube fitted as I will no longer be able to chew or swallow.

More recently my legs and hands have become affected, making walking difficult and stairs a problem. This will only keep getting worse as there is no treatment or cure. We are now looking to convert our garage to house a downstairs toilet, wet room and bedroom as we currently don’t have any downstairs facilities.

I have had amazing support from my fiancee Cheryl, family, friends and colleagues in Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service/.

Thank you

Gary Bowcock