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My name is Tammy Lines, I’m 34, I’ve been happily married to Stephen Lines for 2 years now and we have been together for over a decade. I’m a carer to my husband and mother to our two small children, one aged 8 and one aged 3.

I'm doing a joint abseil with Anne Sleith a MNDA NI volunteer who is an association visitor. Anne herself became involved with the MNDA when she retired, her mother Maise Keenan died from Motor Neurone Disease. Now Anne spends her time volunteering to support people like our family. 

My husband was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease back in January 2016. It was a huge shock as his first symptom of this disease was a little finger on his left hand that stuck out too far. We all thought it was just nerve damage from a previous accident but we were very very wrong.

It took Stephen a long time to come to terms with his diagnosis, he was in denial for a long time. he couldn’t accept it considering he was only 45 at the time. We didn’t tell our children about Stephen being ill until it was necessary as we didn’t want to cause them any extra distress. So we kept it secret for months trying to avoid talking to people so they wouldn’t ask questions about Stephen. No one knew apart from immediate family and the health professionals.

Our children realise that their Daddy is sick but they just don’t realise how ill he is and will become.... We will face that together when the time comes.

Stephen was working as a mechanic at the time of diagnosis and remained working for approximately 1 year before his employer terminated his contract on health and safety grounds.

When he lost his job it was a major blow to his morale. Having gone from working 5 or 6 days a week for almost 30 years to sitting at home staring at 4 walls doing nothing. After work stopped his condition deteriorated rapidly as he was no longer being as physically active as he was. His mobility gradually got less and less and he now struggles with day to day tasks.

The Motor Neurone Association has done so much to support us in these past 2 years. From grants to have work completed on our house so that Stephen can drive his electric wheelchair in and out freely and safely on a newly installed ramp , to giving grants to the kids so we could buy them Christmas gifts, to invites to afternoon tea where we got to meet other people going through the same thing as us. Not to mention regular visits from Anne for general support, chats and keeping us up to date with MNDA news and events. 

So that’s pretty much our story. We want to give something back to the Motor Neurone Association NI and that’s why myself and Anne are abseiling down a 51m high building on Father’s Day in Belfast in June. No matter how much we raise it will all count in the end to help people that are in the same situation as us. 

It’s nice to know the MNDA NI is always there to support us throughout this terrible unpredictable journey.

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