1 April 2021 Research
MND research is to receive a £5.7 million cash injection from the Association, thanks to Leeds Rhinos’ Kevin Sinfield and our community.
Kevin’s 7 in 7 Challenge last December raised £2.2 million and he, his inspiration and team-mate Rob Burrow and our teams, have been discussing the most impactful way to spend the money to benefit people with and affected by MND.
Around a quarter of the funds will be targeted towards research. As a result of the heightened awareness created by Kevin and Rob leading to more fundraising activity, and our community’s incredible response during the pandemic, the Association has announced it will commit an extra £2 million to MND research on top of that – and that’s in addition to the £3 million already committed this year.
Sally Light, our chief executive, said:
“We, as a community, are impatient to find treatments for MND. This extra funding for MND research is a demonstration of our commitment as an Association to see that happen. And of course our work lobbying the Government to follow our lead and invest in targeted MND research will continue.
“In the meantime, thanks to the efforts of Kevin and our many thousands of supporters, we will carry on providing the support people with and affected by MND need now.”
Money from Kevin’s fundraising pot will be channelled into six areas of the Association’s work, spanning up to three years – around 40% will be spent on new projects.
- Children and families scoping and pilot work
- Our Care Centre Network
- MND Connect helpline
- Our regional team in the north
- Helping more care centres get involved in clinical trials
- Translational research – researching potential treatments for MND from drug discovery and development through to clinical trials
Sally said:
“Kevin was impressed by the breadth of the work we undertake and was particularly keen to support those services which have benefited Rob and his family – having seen first-hand the positive impact of those. This money will make such a real difference not only now but into the future as we use it to explore new ways of providing support.”
You can listen to Kevin talking about his work with the Association on the first episode of our new podcast – MND Matters.