Motor Neurone Disease
Can you remember the ALS ice bucket challenge that went viral a few years back, where everyone was pouring buckets of ice water over themselves ?
This was to raise awareness for MND !
Although there are multiple different types of MND, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is the most common form accounting for roughly 60-70% of cases - this is what Steven Hawking was diagnosed with and eventually led to his passing.
Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is the name given to a group of diseases that affect the motor nerve cells (motor neurones) which are responsible for controlling our muscles that enable us to walk, talk, breathe and swallow causing them to not function correctly, fail and eventually die.
We have two different types of motor neurones, the Upper motor neurones (UMN) that take messages from the brain through the spinal cord and Lower motor neurones (LMN) which take the messages from the spinal cord to the muscles.
MND leads to the deterioration of these motor neurones.
Why Is M.N.D So Bad?
The exact cause of MND is not known.
Currently for MND there is..
NO Prevention.
NO Treatment.
NO Cure.
On top of this the average life expectancy after you've been diagnosed with MND is roughly 27 months or about 800 days.
Prisoner in your own body
What makes MND particularly tough is that in a majority of cases your mind and intellect are left unaffected while the rest of your physical body begins a rapid level of decline until you are left completely motionless and unable to do anything, including walk, talk, feed yourself or breathe which is what leads to you dying. You become a prisoner in your own body.
While this is all going on through no fault of their own, someone suffering from MND can often feel like a burden on those around as they need 24/7 care and help to live - so aside from just being incredibly tough for the person diagnosed with MND it creates an extra strain for family, friends, loved ones, finances and much more.
