When I spoke to Sophie & Louise at MND and they said to add my story I really had no idea where to begin but was drawn to a phrase I had heard in that ‘Grief is the price we pay for love’. 

This resonates with us, when Ol & I lost our mum – with her boundless energy, enthusiasm and determination we were all in shock she went too soon – both suddenly and unexpectedly, with so much to give. 

Losing her to MND was and is tragically unfair but In the wake of her own pain, she wanted to increase awareness of the MND condition, raising funds and dedicating time to the research of the condition through trials to ensure others could benefit from her contribution. Today I have chosen to run two marathons - one for all those who, like her have lost their fight to MND and the second for all those continuing the fight, with my progress logged on Strava.

Hearing our dad speak at mums funeral runs so true. Everything we ever did as a family was with each other or for each other. That remains true today, only the dynamics have changed. But I guess at
the heart of it all we’ve always felt totally loved by mum and by dad, and on very simple matters she was and is just a lovely mum. We were both led by mum, she never told us what to do, she just led by example and left us to make our choices. We now look forward continuing to fulfilling the belief she had in us and her ventures planned and with every breath we take, we are taking one for her.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. 

Jean (our mum ) lost the ability to speak - at the time there was no way of recording her voice -  the MND association in Merseyside provided her with support and equipment to enable her to use her typing skills to speak digitally, advancements now mean that £175-£300 would have enabled her voice to be banked on diagnosis and £160 will buy a specialist communication app enabling someone who loses the ability to 'always be me' and continue to be able to 'speak' with others. 

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