The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
‘Very personal’ campaign fight
Michael Alexander speaks to MND Scotland chairman Lawrence Cowan about his SCVO Scottish charity award nomination
B efore motor neurone disease (MND) campaigner Gordon Aikman died in February 2017 aged 31, his best friend Lawrence Cowan made a promise to do everything he could to help bring MND drugs trials to Scotland.
This year that promise became a reality with January seeing the launch of the UK’S biggest MND drugs trial, thanks to the many fundraisers, researchers and leaders in the MND community.
It’s an achievement that has resulted in Lawrence being shortlisted for an SCVO “Charity Champion” award because of everything he has done both personally and professionally in the fight against MND.
Personally, Lawrence has helped raise more than £700,000 for cutting-edge research, and during his leadership as MND Scotland’s chairman, the charity achieved its highest income to date and invested £1.5 million into the pioneering drugs trial MND-SMART.
But if the 35-year-old Dunfermlinebased father-of-two does win the Charity Champion award when the results are announced on Friday, it’ll be a particularly emotional moment given that his friend Gordon won the very same award in 2016 just months before the terrible disease claimed his life.
“It would be pretty emotional – a really personal moment,” Lawrence tells The Courier with a lump in his throat.
“It would be huge. It would be lovely to know that his legacy is still alive.
“I think, personally speaking, it would be fantastic because it was a category Gordon won – he’ll be there on my shoulder on the night. But I also think it’s just incredible to see a really strong array of people nominated from the MND community.”
Growing up in rural Aberdeenshire, Lawrence attended Ellon Academy before studying politics and French at Edinburgh University.
He spent a bit of time teaching in Normandy, did an internship in Paris then caught the political bug while working as political assistant for Labour MEP David Martin at the European Parliament in Brussels.
It was while working for Labour MSP Sarah Boyack at the Scottish Parliament, however, that he met and became friends with Gordon Aikman, who worked as a researcher for the Better Together campaign.
Gordon was terminally diagnosed with MND just three months before the
Scottish independence referendum in September 2014.
He went on to form the high-profile Gordon’s Fightback campaign which successfully lobbied for NHS Scotland to double the number of specialist nurses for the disease and raised more than £500,000 for research into a cure.
During this period Lawrence and his wife Joanna did everything they could to support Gordon with his fundraising and to offer whatever practical support they could on a personal level with meals etc.
Their four-year-old son Fergus was even given the middle name Gordon in tribute to their friend.
But as Gordon’s condition deteriorated, it also gave them a terrible, human insight into the cruel nature of MND which steadily shuts down the body.
It’s this first-hand experience, and how powerless they’ve felt, which drives Lawrence on in his role with MND Scotland every day.
“It’s a real personal thing – I absolutely hate this disease with everything that I have,” explains Lawrence, whose day job is director of communications and fundraising for Chest, Heart, Stroke Scotland.
“That’s what drives me – that one day there will be a treatment.
“MND is one of those conditions where the grieving process starts when the person is still alive – Gordon was very clear that he didn’t have long to live.
“You can’t really face that sort of grief or emotion alone, so having a charity like MND Scotland was essential to my personal way of dealing with that grief but also channelling it into something good.”
Key, says Lawrence, is making sure that future generations have a better experience of MND through research. But he also wants to make sure that people when they do suffer are cared for properly, and to keep raising awareness.
Amongst the other 45 finalists on the SCVO shortlist are MND charities My Name’5 Doddie Foundation and Euan’s Guide, who have also been shortlisted for awards.
The My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, which has been nominated for Charity of the Year, was founded by rugby legend Doddie Weir OBE.
The foundation has also donated £280,000 to MND Scotland’s grants programme, to help families who are struggling financially because of MND.
Euan Macdonald established the Euan Macdonald Centre for MND Research which is hosting drugs trials.