Together he stands;The MS long-haul

Emma Redman está organizando essa arrecadação de fundos.

Doação protegida

We need to send Dave away............ I want to help this family, who I have known for most of my life, raise funds to assist in their mission to sustain a quality of life that many of us take for granted.

Dave is 66 years old, he has been married to his wife Aide for 41 years, they have two children and two young grandchildren. At age 60 Dave was diagnosed with MS, what's even sadder than the diagnosis itself is that it is progressive and since diagnosis Dave has lost the use of his legs and more recently his left arm.

Dave worked his whole life, starting out in a band as a drummer, then a mechanic and at the time of diagnosis was driving lorries; due to the MS his HGV license was revoked and he could no longer work. Aide does four days per week and because of this they have been entitled to no government financial support, despite paying taxes their whole working lives.

I could go on with stories about how lovely these guys are, the fun times we have had, their lust for life and hobbies they had but I know people just want me to get to the point.

So far Dave has tried all sorts of medical and alternative treatments to halter or slow the progression of his disease but nothing thus far has worked, still he and his family are not ready to give up and accept the inevitable.

Last year they had to re-mortgage their house for £50,000 to carry out essential alterations to their house including a drive way Dave can get up on his scooter, a wet room, widened doors and a down stairs bedroom. This year they are at it again (re-mortgaging!) for another £36,500!

Did anyone see the Panorama program about Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplants? Dave and Aide knew about this treatment prior to the show being aired and after endless research put Dave on the waiting and cancellations lists which are now already years long.

Fortunately Dave was on the list prior to nationwide awareness, unfortunately the hospital is in Mexico and treatment costs US$54,500!

This treatment has 100% success in halting the progression of MS yet is only just being carried out in the UK and not available to anyone here with the progressive type - ruling Dave out, hence their second re-mortgage.

What I would like to do and am asking as many of you as possible to help with, is raise some extra cash for them. This will help with flights (an upgrade for us is more beer, for them it would mean a little more comfort and less stress - Dave can't just get up and squeeze past other passengers to use the loo) food, travel insurance, airport parking, all the other things they are going to need to find money for.

If everyone donated just a few pound and shares this story, I'm convinced we can be a part of making a massive difference to their lives.

As well as donations we are going to do other fundraising events and I will keep all you kind folk posted with how we are doing.

There isn't a time limit on this but with any luck Dave could get a call to go to Mexico any time so we need as much money as possible ready to use; lets help them have one last thing to worry about.

Thank you all for reading, sharing (please!) and any donations, every little helps and all that xx

P.S the links offer more information about the treatment and hospital.