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Abbi was just seven when she lost her dad but she remembers the toll his illness took on her family. Now she’s joining her mum’s charity efforts to back research into finding a cure for the cruel disease TEENAGER Abbi Noone wishes BY MARIA CROCE she had more memories of her beloved father.
She was just five when his health began deteriorating and a series of small complaints and movement difficulties started escalating.
Within a year, he had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease. And less than two years later, he was gone.
But he has remained a big part of Abbi’s life and the 14-year-old is sure he is looking down on her every day.
Mark Noone lost his battle against MND in November 2010, when he was 36 and his daughter was seven.
On Friday, Abbi will join her mum in paying tribute to him by backing research into a cure for the condition – to prevent other families having to face the same heartache.
She’s teaming up with classroom assistant Erica, 43, for a walk across fire and broken glass to raise funds at a special charity event.
Since Mark was diagnosed a decade ago, Erica has done something every year to highlight the condition. So far, she has raised £25,000 for MND Scotland.
This year, Abbi is old enough to join the charity’s firewalk and glasswalk at Hampden in Glasgow.
She said: “I know I have memories of my dad but I wish I had time to make more, because I was so young when he died and my memories are limited. “I remember going fishing with my dad at Customhouse Quay in Greenock. I think I was only about five years old but this is a time I always remember.
“I also remember holidays and spending time in the pool with him.”
She also recalls how hard it was when her dad became ill.
Abbi said: “It changed how we did things as a family.
“Every time we went out, we had to load up the wheelchair into the car and had to move him from the car to the wheelchair by physically swinging his legs out of the car, then lifting him up and round into the wheelchair.”
Seeing her dad suffer in the last two years of his life has made her determined to help others through fundraising.
Abbi said: “I know he would be proud that I was taking part in this event.
“My mum always says he is looking down on us at times like this. I will be thinking about him when I am taking part, as he is the reason I am doing these events.
“I feel more nervous for the glasswalk but I am excited to do both events. I think it won’t be as bad as I’m expecting it to be but I don’t really know.
“I want to do stuff to help because I know how this illness affects people and how hard it can be, so I want to do something to raise money to try to help.”
Erica and Mark had been together since they were 18 and were married for seven-and-a-half years. They also had son, Clark, now 10. MND is a rapidly progressing terminal illness, which stops signals from the brain reaching the muscles.
It can cause someone to lose the ability to walk, talk, eat, drink or breathe unaided. There is no cure or effective treatment and the average life expectancy from diagnosis is just 20 months.
Mark had a strange feeling in his arm and leg and it took six months of tests before he was finally diagnosed with MND in November 2008.
Erica said: “You do try to be positive and think, ‘We might be lucky and get five or 10 years, we might be lucky and they might find a cure or a treatment might come along.’
“The diagnosis was a huge shock and was difficult to deal with as I was not only thinking of myself but our two children – and, of course, what Mark was facing.”
The police officer’s health deteriorated fairly rapidly.
Erica recalled: “It started with small things like his fingers weren’t working so well, then his walk would go funny.
“Then it was swallowing and eating, where he’d start to choke. Food had to be cut up small or blended. Then he had a tube into his stomach.
“He was using a wheelchair after about eight to 12 months.”
Erica added: “We’re 10 years on now and things are starting to progress and there’s been lots of research. Even communication aids weren’t as good then. We had to use a special plastic board with the letters of the alphabet on it and sometimes it could take 30 minutes to say one or two sentences.”
She never discussed with her husband what would happen when he died.
Erica said: “Mark was so young and he didn’t want to die. I think that was his way of saying, ‘If I don’t discuss it, it’s not going to happen.’
“I want to raise awareness, because it’s such a devastating illness, and raise money into research to find something to slow it down.
“Raising money each year kept me
I wish I had time to make more memories, because I was so young when he died