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Unfamiliar charity’s plea for fundraisers
Monday, 22nd Feb 2010 - 9:17am
A charity supporting people in Sheffield living with an unfamiliar and incurable disease are appealing to the public to run the 2010 SIG Insulations Sheffield Half Marathon to fundraise for them.
The South Yorkshire branch of Myasthenia Gravis Association (MGA) is one of the ten chosen charities benefitting from the SIG Insulations Sheffield Half Marathon and Great Fun Run taking place on April 25.
With only one person in every 10,000 suffering from the disease, the association desperately struggles to get awareness and funding.
Myasthenics who suffer with the chronic disease experience muscle weakness and excessive muscle fatigue. The body's immune system attacks and damages the nerve signal reception areas on muscles which causes a breakdown in communication between nerves and muscle and means the muscle loses effectiveness.
Symptoms can vary in location of the body and in severity and are also unpredictable, with relapses and remissions common in a patient.
The spontaneous fluctuations make it difficult for both the sufferer and the families caring for the patient.
But with help from MGA, the 150 people in South Yorkshire suffering with the disease and their families can receive support and care, with money raised also funding the research into diagnosis and treatment of the condition.
Barry Gregory, Chair of the South Yorkshire Branch of MGA said: “As a small and lesser known charity we get very little support and no government funding so this involvement with Sheffield Half Marathon is hugely welcome.
“The money awarded from previous races has been used to support sufferers, families and carers of this very nasty muscle weakness disease that has no known cure and sometimes proves fatal. In particular we have been able to fund a 24-hour patient care support line through an MG specialist nurse in Liverpool which can prove a vital link and support unit for people with MG.
“If anybody can support us through running the half marathon or the fun run this year we would be very grateful for their support.”
The disease recently hit national headlines with the High Court case of Baby RB, where parents of the child, who suffers with the congenital type of the disease, were at the head of a debate to turn off or keep on the breathing ventilator keeping him alive.
As well as individuals, runners can also form teams of three or four and take part in the Team Challenge, and Sheffield's Great Fun Run will also take place from Don Valley Stadium. Entry to this event is open to everyone.
The ten chosen charities for the 2010 Sheffield Half Marathon are Macmillan Cancer Support, Myasthenia Gravis Association, RSPCA Sheffield, Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre South Yorkshire, Sheffield Wildlife Trust, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind, Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, Sheffield’s Teenage Cancer Trust and Motor Neurone Disease Association South Yorkshire.
