On Sunday 4th June, over 65 people from our three churches, gathered in the Church Centre for our quarterly Charity Cafe Church.
This time the chosen charity was the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Our speaker was Carol from the Bristol and Bath Group of the association, and she was able to tell us a little about the disease and the work of the association.
MND is a disease which affects the nerves known as motor neurones. These nerves are found in the brain and spinal cord and tell the muscles what to do. MND causes the muscles to weaken, stiffen and waste, which affects how those with the disease walk, talk, eat, drink and breathe. The disease affects everyone differently, symptoms vary, and progress of the disease is hard to predict. It is life shortening and, as yet there is no cure. However, most patients with the condition die within 5 years with the average life expectancy after diagnosis being 14 years.
MND affected up to 5,000 adults in the Uk at any one time. There is a 1 in 300 risk of getting MND across a lifetime. It can affect adults of any age but is most likely to affect those over 50.
We also heard about some well known people who have died from MND and those who are living with MND.
Comedian, Ronnie Corbett was diagnosed with the disease in 2014 and died in March 2016. Actor David Niven also died from the disease aged 73.
The story of Stephen Hawking, the theoretical physicist and best-selling author is well known and told in the film the ‘Theory of Everything’. Hawking was diagnosed with MND in his early 20s and lived with the disease for 55 years. He was as famous for his motorised wheelchair and computer-generated voice as he was for his scientific work.
More recently the former Rugby League player, Rob Burrow, has shared the story of his battle with MND which was diagnosed in 2019, saying that it has made him appreciate the ‘little things in life’, and that the hardest thing is ‘not being able to be the dad I want to be.’
In May his wife Lindsay, her brother and Rob’s best friend, Kevin Sinfield ran the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon to raise money for a Centre for Motor Neurone Disease as well as the association. Many of you will have seen the emotional footage of Kevin carrying Rob, who he had pushed around the entire course, over the finish line. The short ITV documentary about this is well worth watching
https://www.itv.com/watch/news/lindsey-and-rob-living-with-mnd-tonight/zgyr4zk
We were all touched by what we had heard and donations of over £500 have been mad, by the church family, to the Bristol and Bath Branch of the MND Association, to help people with MND locally. https://www.mndassociation.org