2014 marks the 30th anniversary of The National Brain Appeal and – for the sixth consecutive year - I will be leading a Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases team running in the London BUPA 10,000.

I’m especially delighted this year as we have our biggest ever team with 16 Centre staff taking part. Together we’ll be raising funds for the National Brain Appeal to support research and training into neuromuscular diseases (80% of funds raised) and to support the Operating Theatres Appeal (20% of funds raised) for The National Hospital, Queen Square.

There are over 100 different neuromuscular diseases encompassing a wide range of muscle wasting diseases that can develop in childhood or in adult life. These include motor neuron disease, Charcot Marie Tooth disease (CMT), muscular dystrophy, myasthenia gravis and mitochondrial diseases. They may shorten life expectancy or cause life-long disabilities. Since my first BUPA 10,000 in 2009, the Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases team has raised over £100,000. This has had a real impact helping us to maintain our commitment to training the next generation of scientists, nurses, therapists, doctors and clinical research specialists. It’s no exaggeration to say, we really couldn’t have done this without the help of patients, their families and friends. This year, we hope to raise funds to continue these training programmes as well as support the redevelopment of the operating theatres at the National where many of our patients have procedures including nerve and muscle biopsies.

I do hope you will be able to support us: any donation, no matter how small, will be gratefully received and will help to make a very real difference. 

Thank you.

Mike Hanna

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