Gemma Middleton fought a fierce battle with Motor Neurone Disease up until 9th April 2023

Gem was our colleague but more importantly our friend with the most beautiful smile. I have never known anyone love their job or Mott MacDonald more than Gem did - so much so that she took a job working on reception in Leeds after her internship until a graduate job became available. Becoming an environmental consultant was her dream job, going on to fulfil this dream working in Leeds, Cambridge and Sheffield. 

Gemmas beauty and courage wasn't just recognised by those who knew her but also by those helping to fight MND. She was selected by MNDA to be the face of the national fundraising and awareness campaign #MyEyesSay. 

Gem was an inspiration and did not want to be forgotten so Amy Cox, Rhys Lennon and Jake Tomlinson are taking on this completely bonkers challenge in her memory. We will be taking on the Lake District Ultra 100km on Saturday 8th June with the aim of completing within 24 hours (so no sleep and Rhys is practicing his renditionof 1 million green bottles sitting on the wall for entertainment!). 

Motor neurone disease (MND) is a progressive disease that attacks the motor neurones, or nerves, in the brain and spinal cord. This means messages gradually stop reaching muscles, which leads to weakness and wasting.MND can affect how you walk, talk, eat, drink and breathe. However, not all symptoms necessarily happen to everyone and it is unlikely they will all develop at the same time, or in any specific order.Although there is currently no cure for MND, symptoms can be managed to help you achieve the best possible quality of life.We need your support.£160 could fund a specialist communication app for a tablet/smartphone/laptop to enable a person with MND to continue to communicate with loved ones£280 could fund the co-ordination of care for a person with MND at a care centre for a year£1000 could pay for detailed analysis of the DNA of someone with MND to help us better understand the causes of the disease