Motor Neurone Disease-Awareness
Dedications
I would like to dedicate this page to my father who sadly is no longer with us. He had a form of Motor Neurone Disease which lead to his death. Rest in peace dad :( x
- Also to my mother who cared for my father right till the very end, she is a very strong person although she does not know it. I admire you mum, for all you have done for my dad and i think you are one of the greatest people on this plannet.
-Also to my aunty pat, my dads sister who generously raised money for the MND assosiation and baught my dad an electric wheele chair so he could still get about. Aunty pat you are ace.
-Professor shaw ( sheffield halamshire hospital). She helped us understand the disease and learn to care for my dad, i would like to give her appreciations from me and my mum, also for opening a dedicated wing for MND patients at the hospital. Thank you professor shaw.
Motor Neurone Disease (MND)
Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a progressive disease that attacks the motor neurones, or nerves, in the brain and spinal cord. This means messages gradually stop reaching muscles, which leads to weakness and wasting.
MND can affect how you walk, talk, eat, drink and breathe. However, not all symptoms necessarily happen to everyone and it is unlikely they will all develop at the same time, or in any specific order.
Although there is currently no cure for MND, symptoms can be managed to help you achieve the best possible quality of life.
http://www.mndassociation.org/
The aim of this hub is to make people aware of the disease and how it can affect a person, with first had experience of looking after a person with MND i can asure you it is not an easy journey.
My dad was first diagnosed with MND in october 2009, at first he did not have many signs apart from limited grip in his fingers. The illness progressed until it took his life on march 7th 2011.
As there is no cure for MND there is no way to stop it but there are medicines that slow the disease down, although the side-effects vary for person to person. My fathers type of MND did progress quite quickly (2years) although the average lifespan for a person with MND is 2-5 years, some people dont even make it six months. With the medicines you can help prolong it but its always best to let the person with MND decide what they would like to do.
There is not much awareness or funding for MND but the worst thing is there is not many hospitals equipt to deal with the disease in the UK. I think it is vital that we spread the word of MND because even though its a rare disease, its starting to rise.
All of you who read this may think that you do not know of anyone with MND but we have all heard of Professor Stephen Hawking, he has a rare form of MND which only effects the body and not the mind.
If you are a generous person any donations would be muchly appreciated by the MNDA (motor neurone assosiation)
For more information on the disease and how people live and cope with it, the MNDA has a website dedicated to just the disease. http://www.mndassociation.org/
I hope people will look at this and see that the word needs to be spread.
Thank you for taking your time to read this hub.
Lou x
