The West Yorkshire Branch of the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association has launched an emergency appeal for donations to maintain their vital support for people living with MND, a terminal illness.

Local people with MND turn to the West Yorkshire Branch for advice, face-to-face meetings and importantly can apply for financial grants to help improve their quality of life.

But with the coronavirus pandemic cancelling or postponing fundraising events, volunteers at the West Yorkshire Branch are determined to find other ways to raise money to continue supporting local people facing the devastating illness.

Michael Martin joined the West Yorkshire Branch after he was diagnosed with MND in 2012. Michael is now the Campaigns Contact at the branch and said supporting people with MND is now more important than ever:

“Many MND sufferers like myself rely on daily non-invasive ventilation to assist our breathing. One of our greatest fears is that we will contract pneumonia, which is often fatal for us. This puts us in the extremely vulnerable category for Covid-19. We can’t get to our regular NHS clinics at this time and support from local organisations like the West Yorkshire MND Association Branch is vital to keep us going. When the lockdown finally ends we want to know that the Branch will still be able to support us as before. It is so important that we have the chance to meet others who know what it is like to live with this complex disease. Our monthly Branch get-togethers and our Carers’ Group are excellent ways for us to help each other. Also the Branch has supported me in the past with respite care, and in attending national events for the MND community. We need to secure the funding to keep all these things going.”

Tracy is an Association Visitor for the branch,

“Volunteering is an area that has affected me personally, it means I understand what others in a similar situation are going through. I can give advice and signpost people to what was helpful in my situation. It also helps to raise awareness to the wider public. I’m unable to visit people with MND during the Covid 19 virus outbreak so instead we are speaking on the telephone or corresponding via email.”

Jonathan joined the branch after he was diagnosed with MND in November 2018 and is now a member of the Branch Fundraising Group,

"Since my diagnosis I have attended the West Yorkshire support meetings and have found them very informative and helpful.

Because of everything the association has done and do for me, I decided to do some fundraising, to give back and to say thank you. However, with my physical disability (only having one leg and being in a wheelchair), I was limited a little. I decided to go out into the community and ask if local shops would take a collection tin on behalf of the MND Association. I have now 25 such tins out and around my local area.

The coronavirus pandemic has made collecting and money difficult with myself unable to get out and also many of these businesses have been temporarily closed. I try to keep them informed by contacting them either by phone or email."

More than 70 people are living with this brutal disease in West Yorkshire. MND is a fatal, rapidly progressing disease which affects the brain and spinal cord. It attacks the nerves that control movement and eventually leaves people unable to move, communicate or breathe. It kills a third of people within a year of diagnosis and half within two years. There is no cure.