Tuesday 19^th November 2013 is the day I will
never forget, it changed my family’s life for ever, we knew that there was
something wrong with Lucy, but never imagined the enormity of what was coming
our way, the problems Lucy was showing had us worried, we speculate and googled
what could possibly be wrong with her.

When the appointment for Lucy to go for tests at the Glasgow
southern general hospital, came through, to see the consulting Dr Stuart Webb,
Lydia googled him, to find out about him, and his speciality was multiply
sclerosis, so now that condition was added to our list of conditions to worry
about.

The first appointment was on the Monday morning for some
tests, scans and lumber puncture, and by early afternoon, we were told we could
go home, but to come back on Tuesday morning for some more test, although we
were worried we were in good spirits laughing and joking and watching the big
bang theory on Lu’s laptop between the test, thinking that whatever it was
would be cured with some pills or a routine operation, and Lucy would soon
return to her new life in Glasgow.

We came back to the hospital on the Tuesday morning with Lucy’s
laptop and the next series of the big bang theory, to watch between
appointments, after seeing a physiotherapist and a speech therapist, Dr Webb
entered the room we were in, flanked by a female and a male nurse, they brought
in chairs and sat down, and began to tell us that they had done all their test,
and he asked me if I thought I knew what the problem might be, at this point I
started to feel nervous, and told him that we had discussed the symptoms and
thought it could be multiply scleroses, a brain tumour, or some kind of stroke,
he paused for a second and then said its none of these, its motor neuron’s
disease, I felt physical sick and my heart started to pound, Lucy didn’t know
what it was, but I knew exactly what it was, from reading Fernando Ricksen’s
story a couple of weeks earlier, Dr Webb then proceeded to tell Lucy that, its
incurable, there is no effective medicine to help control it, and 90% of people
die within the first 3 years, these facts kept ringing in my ears, with the
sound and vision of Lucy crying, I have never felt so helpless, as the Dr
deliver a death sentence on our youngest daughter, and what I would of done to swop
places with her, I had never felt so numb, I started to think that they had
made a mistake, but was told that all other possible illnesses had been ruled out,
and that it was in fact MND.

We were asked to return to the hospital the following day,
with all of our family to meet with Dr Gorey whom  had a special interest in MND, to explain and
answer any questions, then we were free to go, as we left the hospital I felt
that this can’t be right, she’s only 19, and I wanted to go somewhere and
appeal this injustice, complain, get the decision reversed, but the truth of it
was, that’s life, and there’s nothing that can be done.

 I found it hard to
look at Lucy without my eyes filling with tears, and there was nothing I could
say or do to comfort her, to make this go away and make things better, we now
had to make the journey back to Lu’s flat and break the news to the rest of our
family. After we had called Lydia and told her the news, she agreed to pick up
Ross & Laura come to Glasgow the next day.

Still in a state of shock we tried to compose ourselves, and
strangely enough Lucy felt hungry, food was the last thing on my mind, so we
set off down the street in search of a place to eat and ended up in the
ubiquitous Chip, it was late afternoon and we were the only customer in the
place, we ordered our food and I stared at my cutlery, with the events of the
day raging through my head, and the doctors words of 90% of MND sufferers don’t
make it past 3 years, just kept sounding in my head, over and over again, how
could this be possible?  Lucy may only
have 3 years to live and will end up totally paralysed.

What happened next will stay with me for the rest of my
life, Lucy looked up at me with a smile on her face and said ( I wish I had
Multi Scleroses now) and laughs, I was absolutely amazed at her strength, that
she could make a joke of her situation, and although I really wanted to cry, I
just had to laugh with her, from then on it was to look for the positives, to
help and support Lu, the last thing she needed to see was her Dad filling up
with tears every time I looked at her, so I knew I had to show the strength
that she had shown me, and it’s her strength and determination to make the most
of the time she has left, her strength has been the inspiration for our family,
to be positive and enjoy the time we have left with Lucy.

The fact is no one should have to suffer such a cruel and
debilitating disease such as motor neuron’s disease, as it devastates family’s
and leaves sufferers no chance of survival no matter how hard they battle and fight
against it, positive mental attitude, can help a lot of people get better and
recover from life threatening conditions, but all it does with MND is to help
make the most of what time you have left. That’s why it’s so important to
understand the disease, and find a cure, it doesn’t discriminate against
anyone, and never in a million years would I have though one of my children
would become ill to such a horrible condition.

 Lucy was a very fit
active outdoors kind of girl, didn’t smoke, drink, very healthy life style and
at such a young age why should she suffer this condition? No one knows, and we
will never solve the puzzle of motor neuron’s disease, unless the awareness,
funds, and the demand, for the research to be done to understand it and find a
cure.

 There are no
guarantees that it will stop with Lucy, I have read other sufferers story, were
MND has claimed multiply family members, and I thought we had it bad, I
wouldn’t like to imagine that happening in my family.