The discovery that someone very close to you has suddenly been diagnosed with Motor Neurone disease is a shocking revelation and one very hard to grasp or understand. You want to reach out and help as much as you can under very stressing circumstances and this task is not easy, but research is going on all the time to rid the world of this cruel, dreadful condition. It takes time and money so my contribution with your help may find a solution, no matter how long, in relieving patients from this illness.
I would like, first of all, to tell you a little story of our personal experience which my family witnessed in that my father, who has always been my hero, was recently diagnosed with MND. His symptoms started about a year before he first attended the GP when he began having some weakness in his left leg which made him trip over and at the same time we noticed that his speech began to slur. Alarm bells started to ring as the position worsened when at times he was even unable to lift his legs. We had no idea at this point of his condition but our GP immediately referred him to the hospital where he underwent numerous blood tests and a brain scan. All came back apparently “clear” but with his circumstances appearing to worsen, the doctor needed to refer my father to a specialist for a more lengthy assessment in hospital, thinking that it was possibly a minor stroke, the symptoms being very similar. The hospital voiced their concerns regarding MND and the limited knowledge available to make a quick diagnosis so it wasn’t until April this year, 2017, after a period of some 5 months that to our horror, the disease was confirmed.
Over the past few months my father’s condition has deteriorated and will worsen to the extent that at some point it could start to affect his breathing and eating - he's trapped in a failing body unable to respond to the way we all take for granted his mind being the only active faculty.