Thank you for visiting my JustGiving page. As an MND sufferer, diagnosed 7 years ago, my experience shows what can be done to improve the lives of people with MND.  I'd like to share my experience to give hope to others.  If you want to help donate via JustGiving or simply by texting CALC51 £1/£2/£3/£4/£5/£10 to 70070

So why Calum's cycle? Rehab equipment and physiotherapy isn't available in my area, so I hired a rehab cycle in December 2014, hence the logic behind this effort.

I was diagnosed with MND/ALS in March 2010. As a 46 year old with 3 young children this was a devastating piece of news, particularly given the 14 month prognosis. However, I decided from the outset that I was not going to give in easily, I kept working for 2 years and we had some memorable family holidays.  I became wheelchair bound in March 2012 and seriously ill during the autumn of 2012. I appeared to be in the typical end of life spiral of MND and after a period in ICU in November 2012, I was transferred to a local hospice in December 2012. By this time I was ventilated, had a feeding tube fitted and wasn't expected to live for more than 6 weeks. 

At this point Stirling Council and NHS Scotland came together to ensure I was able to come home to die. A care package was put into place and after spending what we all thought was my last Christmas in the hospice, I came home on 27 December 2012.  Amazingly, due to the combination of good care, equipment and physiotherapy my condition improved and has since pretty much stabilised.  Now I have limited mobility but I am still able to talk normally and eat a good, albeit modified diet. I can use the computer via iTracker, which enables me to fully control my computer with my head.

However, there are many people with MND out there who due to the postcode lottery have limited access to much of this care and equipment, something that needs to change, and soon. Most of us don't have long - average life expectancy after diagnosis is 14 months - so please join me in trying to help make that time as productive and high quality as possible by donating today.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.