MND nothing to do with weather

As part of Motor Neurone Disease Week, which launched on Monday, Pat Orr tells Caroline Lindsay about living with the debilitating illness and why she reckons she’s one of the lucky ones.

Pat Orr has lived a proudly independent life. With a no-fuss attitude and workhorse mentality, Pat, 78, has fought to stay as independent as possible after she was diagnosed last year with motor neurone disease (MND).

Now, during MND Awareness Week, Pat is sharing her diagnosis to help raise awareness of the condition and challenge some of the misconceptions surrounding the illness.

Born in 1939, Pat was raised and educated in Dundee and has spent her life working all over Europe. She moved back to the city 1984, retiring in 1999.

Pat was left shocked when she was diagnosed with MND just nine months ago. MND is a rapidly progressing terminal illness that stops signals from the brain reaching the muscles.

This may cause someone to lose the ability to walk, talk, eat, drink or breathe unaided.

“Last January, I lost my dog and I was very upset. Around the same time, I noticed I was beginning to slur my speech,” Pat recalls.

“My doctor thought it was grief. But when the GP discovered that I had lost a stone in weight, she started looking for different causes. Shortly after this, I started having issues with my left hand and I had a few trips and falls.”

It was in September that Pat’s MND diagnosis was confirmed.

“I was really upset, but my attitude was, no matter what it is, you’ve just to get on with it and live life from day to day,” she says.

Despite her strong-willed nature and her good-humoured disposition, Pat has had to face some lack of understanding of MND and what being diagnosed with the condition means.

During MND Awareness Week, the charity MND Scotland, which has supported Pat, is running a mythbusting campaign to help challenge some misconceptions.

Pat has been surprised by just how many people have never heard of the condition.

“I get some people who say: ‘You’ll feel better when the good weather comes in’. I reply: ‘My dad said that. He died’.

“But on the whole, they tend to overprotect and that’s what you don’t want. You want to keep your independence as long as you can.

“My worst complaint is my voice. I get tired easily and when I get tired my speech gets worse.

“I know there’s going to come a time when I’m housebound and that I’m going to need carers – but I want to hang on to my independence as long as possible.

“If I were explaining MND to somebody, I would say it’s a debilitating disease you never want to get. I’m 78 – I’ve had a very good life. I’m one of the lucky ones.”

Pat is grateful for the support she has received from MND Scotland.

“I’m very happy with them – the support is fantastic,” she says.

“I go to the group in Dundee and it’s so interesting to see people of different ages at different stages of MND.”

mndscotland.org.uk

Picture: Steven Brown. Pat relaxing at home in Dundee.