Our great friend David Greaves, sadly lost his battle with Motor
Neurone Disease (MND) in September of this year. He was diagnosed shortly before his 30th birthday in 2015.
MND is a degenerative disease that results in death of motor neurons (the cells which control voluntary muscular movement of the body). It robs those who suffer from it of the use of their limbs, their voice and eventually their lungs. It drastically reduces life expectancy - 50% of people die within 2 years of diagnosis. It is also more common than a lot of people think - 1 in 300 people get it.
Despite such adversity, Dave showed incredible strength proving the true iron man that he was. Over the past year, Dave got married to the amazing Philippa, wrote and published a children's book to raise funds for the Friends of the Earth
(www.homelessbee.starringstorys.co.uk/), climbed Kilimanjaro (raising over £12,000 for MND Association), and travelled around Africa, funding 400 school uniforms to children in Kenya so that they could attend school, went on
safari in Malawi and Zambia, and flew over Victoria Falls by helicopter at the end of rainy season.
Prior to his diagnosis, Dave was exceptionally fit. Just two years ago he ran 69 miles along Hadrian’s Wall path from Carlisle to Newcastle in just one day. And the year before that, he completed the “ultra triathlon” Iron Man Challenge in Wales with relative ease – 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile cycle, and a 26.2 mile run. He also completed several marathons too raising money for charity. Dave also loved to party, and a week after his iron man joined many of us for canoeing and partying break in Dartmouth Harbour, where he got the beer pong flowing.
In memory of Dave, his sense of fun, and love of activity, and in support of research into this devastating disease, we’re joining the rest of the ‘2Fingers2MND’ team to raise money for the MND Association. We’re running the 10k Victoria park Santa run on 4th December. While this would have been a short warm up for Dave, and our combined 150km does not come close to Dave’s many amazing feats. However, for many of us it’s the first time we’ve run further than the bus stop! For others, we’re aiming to reach our personal best, despite being dressed as Santa! 2Fingers2MND (https://www.justgiving.com/teams/2Fingers2MND) has raised around £46,000 in sponsorship so far via the Just Giving website and we would be delighted to receive more pledges of support.
The MND association offers vital support to those who have MND and carry out important research to try and determine the causes and potential cures.
