Kentish Express Ashford & District
Dad starts MND campaign after son’s tragic death
Group is targeting £50m from government
The father of a 31-year-old councillor who died a year after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease is fronting a campaign for government support.
Cllr Alex Ward had served on Ashford Borough Council since his election in 2019, representing the Beaver ward for Labour.
He had married his partner of 10 years just weeks before he passed peacefully at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital in July last year.
His dad David is now the chairman of the East Kent Group of the Motor Neurone Disease Association and has been campaigning for more funding from the government to support research into the disease.
The campaign, which is asking for £50m in funding over five years, has already received support from several MPs in east Kent.
“It has been a tremendous effort from everyone up to this point,” Mr Ward said.
“We are calling for funding over five years to establish a joint research institute that will help to coordinate the currently rather fragmented funding effort to find a cure for this dreadful disease.”
Ashford MP Damian Green, Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) and Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) have written to health secretary Sajid Javid in support of the movement.
Mr Ward said he had also written to Natalie Elphicke (Dover) and Damian Collins (Folkestone
and Hythe) with no response, while Helen Whately (Faversham) was minister for health and social care, and is now in the treasury so is unable to support the campaign.
“Not having a response from some of the MPs is disappointing, but it could be because I’m not a constituent of theirs, although I am representing people who are,” Mr Ward said.
“I was, and still am to an extent, still in shock about Alex’s death and living in ignorance about the disease. There are more than 60 people with MND in east Kent, it’s surprising to realise how common it is.
“About a third of people diagnosed die within a year, and half within two years.
“You end up having to communicate via technology; Alex found it easier to use just pointing at cards, eventually just looking at them.
“Having your conversations reduced to that is extraordinarily tough.
“It’s too late for our son but
anything that can be done to speed up finding a cure is the best news we could possibly have.
“Most of what we do is raising funds and working with families, helping them cope with everything.”
While Mr Ward fights for change, a commemorative picnic table was installed at the Willow Children’s Centre last month, a place that was close to his heart in the community.
His family visited the Brookfield Road site alongside Cllr Ward’s fellow councillor and friend Cllr Lyn Suddards (Lab).
His mother, Emma MacLennan, said her son “often spoke to me of the tremendous contribution of the Willow Centre and Beaver Community Trust to the lives of his constituents”.
“We were eager to commemorate Alex with a donation to the centre,” she added.
“The picnic table and parasol we have donated are made from recycled materials and adapted for wheelchair users.”