Fightback goes on for Gordon
Many of you may have seen reports of the death of Gordon Aikman from Motor Neurone Disease.
Gordon’s response to his diagnosis tells us so much about the man he was, but it is important that, while we recognise what he did on MND, we do not lose sight of what a brilliant person he was.
He was also a talented young man and a wonderful person; a great friend full of humour, fun and warmth; and a cherished husband, son, brother and uncle full of love for his family.
From being head boy at Kirkcaldy High School, he went on to the University of Edinburgh, where he was an activist who was committed to playing his part in fighting for a better society. That took him into student representation and, from there, to working in the Parliament for my husband Richard Baker MSP.
In his work for Richard, Gordon quickly established himself as intelligent, resourceful and tenacious. He left working for my husband to work for the whole Labour Party at Holyrood, as his talents where clear for all to see. He was happy to work late nights and for long hours, and he could achieve more in one day than many of us could achieve in a week.
Gordon was a great communicator, writing speeches, columns or news releases and before his diagnosis, he was already one of the best political operatives of his generation.
Gordon used all his experience, talent and skills to amazing effect in his fightback campaign but, if he had not developed MND, he would still have achieved great things in his life through his passion and drive for life.
MND is a brutal and cruel disease that takes lives all too soon and leaves behind devastated families.
It would be a fitting tribute to Gordon’s bravery and brilliance for us to not only improve services and support for people with MND, vital as those things are; but for us to also work together to ensure that there is far more research in the future to find a cure.
Gordon felt passionately about that and that is why he started Gordon’s fightback, raising significant sums of money to help with research for future generations.
With the scientific excellence that we have in Scotland and our worldleading research in life sciences, we should aspire to be the country that finds the cure for motor neurone disease.
We should seek to lead in research to provide effective treatment. Scotland should be the place where we finally beat the disease. That would be a fitting tribute to Gordon.
For all of us who hold his memory dear and miss him so much, we must now pledge to work together to ensure that his campaign does not stop with his passing, but goes on until we have realised the future that he fought so hard for.
Gordon’s fightback is still on.
You can still donate to Gordon’s fightback online via www.gordonsfightback.com