Uplift The Whittaker's As They Fight MND!

Update:

2nd December 2024, Brenden lost his fight with this cruel and relentless disease.

A beloved son, father, brother, grandson, uncle and friend... We miss him every day.

Hi, my name is Ayla. I want to start by thanking all of the amazing people who have reached out and asked how they can help our family directly and encouraged me to launch this page. Thank you!

The last 12 months have been incredibly tough and full of heartbreak for the Whittaker Family. We lost an uncle, some dear friends and beloved grandparents all within a very short time of each other. Amongst all the loss and grief, my father-in-law Steve, was also then diagnosed with cancer. Thankfully it was caught early and after surgery and 6 very uncomfortable months of chemo (which he's still recovering from), Steve was declared cancer free! However, just when you think the world couldn’t get any more cruel and before we could even begin to process Steve's diagnosis or surgery, my brother-in-law, a 37 year old father of 2, was diagnosed with MND.

Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is the name given to a group of diseases in which the nerve cells (neurones) controlling the muscles that enable us to move, speak, swallow and breathe, fail to work normally and eventually die. With no nerves to activate them, the muscles gradually weaken and life expectancy from diagnosis is usually only 1-5 years.

The effects of this cruel disease means that my brother-in-law has experienced rapid degeneration of voluntary movements and in the last 10 short months has already lost the ability to walk and talk.

Whilst recovering from his cancer treatment, Steve had to stop working, whilst my mother-in-law Christine, still has to work full time to support the family as well as help care for Steve and their son who needs full-time care.

The mental, physical and financial toll the last 12 months has taken on my in-laws and brother-in-law is hard to put into words. There has been no rest and the days are only getting harder. Please help me raise funds to help my family so they have one less burden to stress about and can concentrate on spending the little time they have left together with my brother-in-law.

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported and continues to support our family. We appreciate you.

Much love,

The Whittaker's