In May 2021 my wife, mother of our two young children, and community optometrist, Flo was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) at the age of 34.

The diagnosis took us completely by surprise, and has utterly devastated our family.

MND (also known as ALS) has no cure and is a fatal, rapidly progressing disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. The risk of developing MND is 1 in 300, but because it kills a third of people within a year there are only 5000 adults affected in the UK at any one time.

Flo and I can't control the effect and progression of the disease, so we want to focus our attention on increasing awareness whilst fundraising as much as possible to help others living with MND, and also help fund vital research into treatments for this awful condition.

The support received from our family and friends has been phenomenal - thank you each and everyone. We couldn't cope without you.

We now ask that you all help share this page to raise awareness, and fundraise as much as possible and join #TeamMND to #FightForFlo.

You can request fundraising packs or collection tins by contacting Jenn Dodd from the MNDA (jenn.dodd@mndassociation.org)

Over the course of 2021-2023 I, alongside friends and family, will be undertaking various fundraising events & challenges. £40k would fund laboratory equipment for over a year for research into the causes of MND, or provide 80 people with MND a tablet device with communication software, allowing them to communicate with loved ones.