HELP US CAMPAIGN FOR GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT

SOMEONE someone living with Motor Neurone Disease I have a very simple ask – please help the MND Association’s campaign for £50m government investment.

Frankly some things are too important not to be involved in and this is one of them.

That is why the association has teamed up with other charities – MND Scotland and the My Name’s Doddie Foundation and some of the country’s leading neurologists to campaign under the banner United To End MND.

We want the Government to invest £50 million over five years in targeted MND research.

This would establish and support a virtual MND Research Institute to focus on creating a world-leading drug discovery and development programme, developing a sustainable MND trials platform and implementing a rigorous clinical research programme.

In layman’s terms, it would speed up the science to lead us to treatments for MND.

Why’s that important? Because every day six people are diagnosed with motor neurone disease – and six people die from it. MND robs a person of their ability to walk, talk, eat and ultimately to breathe. Yet currently there is no treatment.

We want to change that and we believe the power to do so lies in the Government’s hands. As people affected by the disease and working with the charities we can only do so much.

The campaign has been supported by former sportsmen who are now living with MND, such as rugby union’s Doddie Weir, rugby league’s Rob Burrow and footballers Stephen Darby and Len Johnrose.

#United2EndMND has also been promoted on Twitter by famous faces including film star Hugh Grant, entrepreneur Deborah Meaden, broadcaster Jeremy Vine and F1 presenter Natalie Pinkham.

Coronation Street vicar Daniel Brocklebank and Good Morning Britain presenter Charlotte Hawkins, who have both lost relatives to MND, have also worked with the MND Association to increase awareness of the campaign.

Please take a look at the website www. mndassociation.org/unitedtoendMND and join our campaign on social media using #United2EndMND.

Christopher Thurston