The West Sussex South branch of the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association has launched an emergency appeal for donations to maintain their vital support for people living with MND, a terminal illness.

Local people with MND turn to the West Sussex South branch for advice, face-to-face meetings and importantly can apply for financial grants to help improve their quality of life.

The MND Association expect to lose over £2 million this year due to the cancellation of community and sporting events as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. But our fight against MND can’t be delayed. Local people affected by the disease need our support now, they need their voices heard today.

But with the COVID-19 restrictions continuing, volunteers at the West Sussex South branch are determined to find other ways to raise money to continue supporting local people facing the devastating illness.

Dean Donaldson joined the West Sussex South branch after his best friend was diagnosed shortly after his 50th birthday. Dean is now the on the committee at the West Sussex South branch and is helping raise their online presence and said supporting people with MND is now more important than ever:

Being told you have a disease with no cure is devastating enough. I've seen first hand what this disease can do to a person's body. But this year with the added isolation of Covid, I've seen it robbing people's spirit too. People with MND are extremely vulnerable and are relying on our help and support now more than ever. We simply must be their reason to hope and fight!

Around 40 people are living with this brutal disease in the southern part of West Sussex alone. MND is a fatal, rapidly progressing disease which affects the brain and spinal cord. It attacks the nerves that control movement and eventually leaves people unable to move, communicate or breathe. It kills a third of people within a year of diagnosis and half within two years. There is no cure. Help us find one.

https://mndawestsussexsouth.co.uk