MND Awareness Week 2018 roundup

MND Awareness Week in 2018 has been one of our busiest ever and we would like to thank all of our amazing supporters for getting involved!

MND Awareness Week took place between 18th – 24th June 2018, with Global MND Awareness Day taking place on Thursday 21st June.

We had a lot going on across the week and we would like to say a personal thank you to each of our supporters who got involved with fundraising throughout the week and who shared MND news stories and videos on social media.

On Monday we celebrated the beginning of MND Awareness Week by launching our brand new ‘Myth-Busting MND’ awareness campaign. The campaign sets out to highlight and challenge some of the stigmas and misconceptions that are associated with MND.

Over a dozen brave Scots opened up about their experiences with MND. These stories appeared across the press and online to spread awareness amongst the general public.

We also created a video campaign, featuring the voices of people affected by MND, to help spread awareness across social media online.

The ‘Myth-Busting MND’ campaign also saw electronic billboards go live in 4 locations in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

On Wednesday, MND Scotland held a reception at the Scottish Parliament for people affected by MND. The event, hosted by longstanding supporter Christina McKelvie MSP, gave people with MND the opportunity to hear from speakers and to link-up with local MSPs where possible.

Dennis Dick MBE was the keynote speaker of the reception. The former broadcaster and naturalist used his AAC communications equipment to share his experiences.

The following day, MSPs held a debate on MND in the chamber of the Scottish Parliament.

Elsewhere, ScotRail staff members took part in a dress-down day to raise funds for MND Scotland. MND Scotland is the official charity partner of the ScotRail Alliance, which consists of ScotRail and Network Rail Scotland. The Alliance welcomed our supporters to hold bucket collections at rail stations across the country!

On Thursday the ScotRail Alliance announced that it would be naming a brand new high-speed train after MND campaigner Gordon Aikman. This news came only shortly after ScotRail unveiled its MND Scotland-branded train to help raise awareness of Motor Neurone Disease and MND Scotland.

The same day we revealed that rugby giant Doddie Weir has made a one-off £100,000 contribution towards MND Scotland’s grants scheme for families affected by MND. The funds were raised by Doddie Weir’s ‘My Name’5 Doddie Foundation’ and the donation was made one year on from Doddie revealing his own diagnosis with MND.

On Thursday Doddie attended MND Scotland’s charity fundraising dinner in memory of MND campaigner Gordon Aikman. Gordon’s Fightback Dinner saw a host of celebrities come together to raise awareness and funds to contribute towards MND research.

At the fundraising dinner Lucy Lintott, the youngest person with MND in Scotland, was awarded the Fightback Spirit Award. Lucy was recognised for her determination to live her life to the fullest and to raise awareness of MND.

We had lots of other events happening across the week including ‘Shine a Light on MND’ which saw landmarks all over Scotland lighting up in blue to raise awareness of MND.

We would like to say a special thanks to the ScotRail Alliance, to the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation and to Christina McKelvie and her colleagues who have helped make MND Awareness Week a special one!