On the 26th August 2018, we as a family along with others affected by MND will be completing a 10 mile walk starting at Ashington Football Club in support of the Les Alderson Celebration Day who are raising money and awareness for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. MNDA are the only national charity in England, Wales and Northern Ireland focused on MND care, research and campaigning. We please ask for donations, as big or as little to support this charity but maybe more importantly help share awareness of Motor Neurone Disease because with awareness there is hope for a cure.

As many people know on the 16th May 2017 we lost our darling Nanna, wife, mother, mother in law, sister and friend to the monster that is Motor Neurone Disease or also known as MND. For those unaware, MND is a rare, progressive and debilitating disease, where deterioration of specialist nerve cells leads to muscle weakness. This can affect how you walk, talk, eat, drink and eventually breathe, which unfortunately we as a family had to watch our Nanna go through. As we now know too well, there is no cure to the devastating disease. Something that for our Nanna started with a simple cough progressed into her slurring her words, where we often joked she sounded drunk to those around her. This eventually led to her being unable to speak at all and then eat from the weakening of the muscles required to swallow meaning she need fed three times daily by our family through a tube. Her initial slight limp in one leg eventually progressed into her being unable to walk, which was so hard for us all to accept as she was always so independent. What is cruelest of all is that those with the condition that despite the quick physical deterioration, the mind of those with MND cruelly remains as aware as it was before. Like us before a diagnosis, many would never have heard of the condition, apart from maybe knowing it is also what Stephen Hawking lived with for so many years before his death this year, let alone understand how truly awful and cruel it can be. 

Motor Neurone Disease kills a third of people within a year and more than half within two years of diagnosis. It affects up to 5,000 adults in the UK at any time, who are fighting MND at various stages of the disease. MND does not discriminate based upon age, gender, race, religion or ethnicity meaning that, as our family know only too well that it can strike anyone just as you least expect it. The lifetime risk of developing MND is around 1 in 300, which is one person in an average size cinema screen. On your next visit to the cinema, take a look around and just think about those statistics because the sad reality is one person may be diagnosed within their lifetime. Six people are diagnosed every day with MND and cruelest of all, six people die each and every day and on the 16th May 2017 our beloved Nanna became one of them.

The Motor Neurone Disease Association helped our Nanna and family throughout her battle, including after, which we will always be grateful for. As a family we want to give back to this charity and help aid them in the amazing work that they do with others in similar situations. Please help us to do this by donating whatever you can or just sharing awareness because remember that with awareness there is hope for a cure.

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