Hello, my name is Kathryn Thomason and on July 27th I will be
swimming across The Solent from The Isle of Wight to Gosport for the Ian Pratt Foundation, a charity raising funds for support, awareness and clinical research for Motor Neurone Disease.

Many of you reading this will know I did this swim for the first time
last year and with the help of many kind people I raised just over £9000 for the MNDA. 

Please help me hit my fundraising goal and let’s raise as much
money as possible to help in the fight to find a cure for this terrible
disease and to provide care for the approximately 5000 people living with the condition in the UK. You can read more about the disease, how
specifically your money will be spent, and my personal story below.

The Disease

MND is a progressive and currently incurable disease that causes
progressive paralysis of the body. Sufferers typically die within three to
five years of diagnosis. Imagine quickly losing your ability to walk,
talk, eat and – eventually – breathe. This is the reality of people living
with the disease and it is more common than you think. Your risk of having MND over your lifetime is around 1 in 400 yet we currently have no cure and much of the day to day patient support is provided by charitable organisations that rely almost entirely on donations and volunteers.

What Your Money Will Do?

The Ian Pratt MND Foundation was set up by Ian Pratt in 2016 to support people living with MND.

It has three main aims:

1.     To raise awareness of Motor Neurone Disease,  MND

2.     To support those affected by MND and their families

3.     To support research into the causes and hopefully, one day, a cure for MND, in particular the research being undertaken by professor Pam Shaw at SITraN in Sheffield.

SITraN is based in the University of Sheffield and is headed by Dame Professor Pamela Shaw (a world expert in MND and a very amazing lady) and is at the forefront of global research into MND. 

100% of funds raised go directly into fulfilling charitable objectives. The foundation does not spend donations on salaries and has no paid staff.


My Story

Sadly, a close family member of mine has been diagnosed with MotorNeurone Disease. It affects many more people than you might think. Around 5000 people are living with the condition at any one time in the UK but your lifetime risk of having the disease is around 1 in 400. You won’t meet many people with the disease because of the associated short life expectancy.

Due to its rarity there is a distinct lack of awareness and funding. Awareness has dramatically risen since the recent “Ice bucket
challenge” campaign but the groups working to help people with the disease and who are researching for a cure need constant funding to be able to do their good work.

The swim should be around 3 miles if I navigate correctly and
overcome the strong tides. This year I've chosen to swim in the other
direction. I'm training hard, hoping for favourable conditions and lots of
support!

I am so grateful that you are reading this story and really hope that you will support me in this challenge to contribute to finding a cure for this degenerative disease and to helping the people living with it. I will be wearing wrist bands on the day for warriors and angels (people living with MND now and people who have sadly passed away). If anyone reading this story would like me to wear a wrist band for someone they know or have lost, then please contact me and I will carry the wristband for that person during my swim and then post a wristband and a certificate to you or to them.

I will be updating this page regularly with my training and fundraising ideas. I will also be regularly swimming in lakes and the tropical North Sea if anyone would care to join me! I've not yet braved the open water this year but will need to soon!

Thank you for reading and thank you to the organisers who have made this swim possible!

Kathryn

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.