Walking Northern Kungsleden for Challenging MND

My name is Tim and I’ve been living with Motor Neurone Disease for seven years.

Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a life shortening illness that is currently both untreatable and incurable. MND attacks the nerve cells (neurones) that control muscles; messages are not passed along the neurones which means that the body becomes progressively unresponsive and the muscles waste through lack of use. MND leaves people locked in a failing body, they progressively lose the ability to walk, talk, eat and eventually breathe.

Around 5,000 people live with MND in the UK at any one time. Every day, six people are diagnosed with the condition in the UK and unfortunately another six people die because of MND. Over half the people diagnosed with MND only live for two years after diagnosis. There is currently no cure or treatment for MND.

I count myself lucky to have lived with MND for seven years because as I said, over half the people diagnosed with MND die within two years of their diagnosis. Most people would be unaware that I have a life shortening illness but I live with fatigue, muscle cramps, muscle spasms and weakness in my left leg, arm and side. Since my diagnosis four years ago I have been involved in a number of research projects; I have donated spinal fluid, blood and tissue samples as well as taking part in investigations into the role of mitochondria in MND at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield.

Last summer my wife Nicola and I walked the West Highland Way, walking from Glasgow to Fort William to raise money for a MND charity. This summer Nicola and I will travel to the far North of Sweden to walk the northern section of the Kungsleden hiking trail. Over eight days, we will walk 110km from the town of Abisko in the Swedish Artic, past Kebnekaise, Sweden’s highest mountain to the mountain cabin of Vakkotavare, where a road finally crosses the Swedish wilderness and we can get a bus back to civilisation.

This is a walk I have wanted to undertake for several years but I’ve been prevented from doing so by Covid restrictions so I am really pleased that I am still healthy enough to undertake this multi-day walk and raise funds for a MND charity.

I have been fortunate to have been given a grant by the charity Challenging MND to help fund this trip.

Challenging MND is a charity that aims to provide the means for people living with MND to create memories with their families while they still can. This might be a physical challenge such as the one I am undertaking but it could be a lot simpler and nearer home. People with MND can be thrown into a whirlwind of physical decline and an ensuing chase to adapt how they live so a chance to create a special moment with their family or friends is not a small matter.

Remember, one third of people diagnosed with MND go from a normal life to being locked in a failing body and death within one year and over half of people diagnosed with MND make the same journey from normality to death in just two years.

Please, give generously to help people living with MND.