What is your motivation to become a trustee of the MND Association?
Sadly, I have first-hand experience of seeing what happens when a loved one is diagnosed with, and eventually taken by, MND.
My husband had aggressive ALS and lived for 18 months with me as his primary caregiver until he passed away in 2019. We had amazing support from the MND Association and our local hospitals and hospices who helped us with every aspect of care, both physical and psychological.
I have captured my personal experience in a book to help raise awareness of the challenges of caring for someone with a degenerative, terminal disease. As a trustee, I will be able to further help families living with this devastating condition.
What experience and skills will you bring to your role as a trustee?
My 43-year career was in business-to-business sales, marketing and business development. I worked at board level for the last 10 of those years. My whole working life has been focused on end-user experience.
As a result of my personal experience for several years, I've fundraised for MND, been linked to a local branch as a campaigner and have regularly attended MND support meetings.
My goal is to help the MND Association maintain absolute focus on people living with MND and their circle of family and friends. I am passionate in wanting better support, in particular psychological support, for those affected by MND and I want to see best practice care and support across the whole of the UK, while work is going on to find treatments and a cure.