THE BRAVE Droitwich man who is battling Motor Neurone Disease is undertaking his latest fund-raising challenge – centred on Valentine’s Day.
John – also known as MND Warrior and ‘Sir John’ – was first featured in the Standard in November when he made Christmas gift tags to raise funds for MND research.
He originally set himself a target of £300 but now, after that challenge, this one and others – including a Christmas tree bauble fund-raiser, Christmas markets and a raffle, his tally is up to more than £11,350 for the cause and he is hoping to get to £20,000.
He and his family have also lost count of the number of messages received from all over the world, saying what an inspiration John is.
He received 275 Christmas cards from all over the world and the number of baubles on his tree reached 300.
He has 1.000 connections on Facebook, 2.754 followers on Twitter and over 1.000 connections on Instagram, along with more than 1,000 followers on LinkedIn.
As part of the latest drive John has asked people to send him to Valentine’s cards and companies are sponsoring him for how many he receives. So far he has had more than 200 which have been used to turn the conservatory at his Vines Lane home into a room of love and hope for MND.
Names of fellow MND Warriors and MND Angels are being written on love hearts.
John was first diagnosed with MND at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital five years ago and he was given a life expectancy of 12 to 18 months – some of the family’s darkest days.
Despite the diagnosis and daily struggles caused by him losing his mobility and the use of his hands and needing to be fed with a tube in his stomach, needing a catheter and a voice machine, he has bravely battled on and always remained upbeat, smiling every single day.
He was prompted to start his fund-raising after watching a piece on the news regarding MND research funding being refused by Parliament he said, via his voice machine, he wanted to do something to help.
Everyone who meets him can not get over his positivity, his sense of humour and the encouragement he gives to everyone around him.
People can send Valentine’s cards to 32,vines Lane, Droitwich, Worcestershire WR9 8LT
Visit his fund-raising page here for more and to donate to John’s cause.
