MND –
Motor Neurone Disease.
Rotary Club of
Spey Valley are raising funds this year in their bi-annual sponsored walk, for
the local charities it supports, and in support of MND – Motor Neurone
Disease. Many of you will never have
heard of it so, What is Motor
Neurone Disease?
Some 5,000 people
are living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) today in Britain. Every day, three
people will die and every day the same number will be diagnosed. Each year more
than 120 people are diagnosed with MND in Scotland. More than 105,000 people
are diagnosed world-wide.
Few people know what MND actually is. Basically, it’s when
the nerve cells that control our muscles, the ‘motor neurons’, die and the
muscles stop working. Over time, you lose the ability to walk, talk or feed
yourself. Most people die within two to five years. Your mind and senses are
usually unaffected so you know what is happening as your body gives up and you
prepare to die. It’s a cruel disease that strikes indiscriminately. You might
be 22 or 72. There is no cure. It is most heartrending when people are in the
prime of life.
The MND Association's ‘Thumbs Up’ sign represents David
Niven, the actor, making his last defiant gesture. It remains a symbol of hope.
Fame & wealth are no help with MND, 
but keeping the
spirit of the patient & carers up is, and, in time, research may find a
cure.
The inspiration for
this support by the Rotary Club of Spey Valley was a man such as this known by
a member of the club as he was married to a much-loved goddaughter.
In 2005, Chris Hall
was diagnosed with MND – within a year he was dead.
A healthy, active, non-smoking, non-drinking
46 year old, who devoted his life to his wife Liz and scuba diving, he spent
much of his spare time teaching people to dive and to conserve the underwater
world. Chris started the fund himself as he was determined to increase
awareness of and raise much needed funds for vital MND research. Even if it
could not help him, it would benefit others in the future and work towards
finding a cure for this horrific disease. His catch phrase was “Adapt,
Improvise and Overcome”. This attitude has inspired many people to take up his
wish to continue fundraising in his name for years to come!
By the time he died
in April 2006, his ‘Just Giving Diver Chris’ website had raised over £10,000.
Today it has reached a staggering £44,000 of much-needed funds to tackle this
relentless illness at all levels. Many of his friends but also lots of others
have taken part in fundraising activities as diverse as an Art Auction; Race
Night; Music Concert; Scuba-Diving Extravaganza as well as the challenging
‘Pink Coffin’ Trek to Everest Base Camp in April last year. The Yorkshire
Divers Website Members are planning an annual Chris Hall Day on 19 April every
year. We are also delighted to help continue this legacy by adding some of the
money raised on our Gaick Walk.
The largest single
event, The Pink Coffin Trek was one Chris helped plan with Liz only months
before he died, naming it in honour of the pink coffin he was to be cremated
in. As in life, Chris’s sense of humour was to live on! This trek alone raised
£25,000. Please take a look at the
web-sites below for more information on MND, it’s Associations and the Pink
Coffin campaign.
http://www.mndassociation.org/life_with_mnd/what_is_mnd/index.html