John Edmonson, 61, was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, or MND, over four years ago. To raise money for the MND Association, he has challenged himself to do one hundred press ups a day for ten consecutive days, an extraordinary task for anyone with this condition.
John, with the help of his son, and his friend Paul Donegan, who formerly ran John Andrews Hairdressing Salon in Monton with him for over thirty years, have set up the MND1000 Challenge, in which individuals, who can choose which exercise they will do and how long they will take to complete the thousand repeats, will get sponsored, and donate the money to the MND Just Giving page.*
"Press ups used to be my thing" John says, explaining why he chose this particular challenge to raise money and awareness "I twice did a thousand in an hour for different charities".
John, who started his challenge last Wednesday and hopes to complete it by 27th November, has the bulbar palsy type of MND, meaning his speech is the aspect of himself which has been most affected. He has now lost the ability to speak but his determination to find a cure through the MND Association, and his enthusiasm for the MND1000 Challenge, are both heartfelt encouragements for others to take part in the challenge.
John says that the help he has received from the MND Association has been "superb", a sentiment shared by many others who have gotten involved with it. Though he never considered that he would ever need help, having been self-employed all of his life, he greatly appreciates that they are "there to help with whatever you need".
Other sufferers of MND who are involved with the MND Association talk about how comforting it is to belong to its community. In the UK, MND kills around 2,200 people per year, and there is no cure.
Paul, John's good friend and the person who has helped to set up and promote the Challenge, says that "this is a fantastic way for people to help fight this dreadful disease, get fitter and have a bit of fun along the way, especially during lockdown".
When asked about what he would like to change about the way people think about MND, John talks about Stephen Hawking, and describes the portrayal of him in the popular media as "a brilliant man trapped in his own body". While he acknowledges that this is true for a lot of people, he would like to somewhat dispel the notion of tragedy attached to it..."There are some very promising drugs reaching the end of trials now" he says "which give us hope, and we all need hope."
On his JustGiving page, John has the Barbara Mikulski quote "Each one of us can make a difference, together we can make change". This is the sentence he chose with which he would try to inspire people to join his challenge, and which perhaps most aptly describes, in John's words, "our push to make a change for MND".
To sponsor John see www.justgiving.com/team/MND1000Challenge
Words by Martha Lewis-Fairbrother
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