Good morning all! Thank you as always for your thoughtful and considerate nominations and of course your patience as we try our best to get to everyone. Please keep them coming! All nominations roll over until either selected or you contact us to say you no longer wish for them to be considered. Only you, the 500 that pay in each week can nominate so if there is a person, family, cause or charity that you wish to be considered then please drop us a line at fivehundredreasons@hotmail.com
This week we have decided to split the pot. Jack has nominated a 40 year old man that he went to school with who has been struck down in his prime by Motor Neurone Disease and our £250 will help Patrick and his family prepare for the road ahead. Our second nomination is going to Miranda who’s son has an as yet undiagnosed skin condition that is agony and causing blistering and bleeding. As a single mum who’s income has been blighted by the pandemic our donation will help provide items that can alleviate his suffering whilst waiting for the medical advice he so desperately needs to make him better. Both nominations and links to the just giving pages are below. Thank you as always for your generosity. It’s easy to see how your donations are helping families that so clearly need our help. Lots of love 500 Reasons Admin Team x Dear 500 Reasons, I am writing this nomination on behalf of a friend of mine who has recently been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. He is utterly devastated and understandably is finding it difficult to cope with the idea of what lies ahead for him and his family. I know one of the fears he has is related to how is wife and 4 children will cope and financially survive after the inevitable. We are trying to raise as much as we can for him now (so he can adapt his house) and to give his family some security in the years ahead. Here is his just giving page info: https://justgiving.com/crowdfunding/jo-hunt-4?utm_id=66&utm_term=ZNG4Xn7Nr Patrick and Sarah first met 22 years ago. Up until recently Patrick age 40, was able to fulfill an active role as a father to his four beautiful children - Bay-lee (23) Finley (10) Freddie (8) and Sonny (3) and more recently grandfather to little Freya (6 months) and work as a scaffolder for SWC Scaffolding. Sarah continues to juggle family life along with her career as a Hairdresser. A fit and healthy son, husband, father, and more recently grandfather, Patrick was extremely active, and a keen sportsman who loved playing his favourite sports - football and golf. Patrick was really sociable and enjoyed spending time with friends and especially his family. Earlier this year Patrick and Sarah were given devastating news that would turn their world upside down - FOREVER. After months of tests and procedures being carried out it was confirmed that Patrick had Motor Neurone Disease (MND). The shock of receiving the diagnosis is still hard to digest even now and the rollercoaster of emotions they and the wider family experience on a daily basis is overwhelming - especially for Patrick and Sarah as even the simplest of tasks is proving to be a challenge. With MND messages from the motor neurones gradually stop reaching the muscles. This leads the muscles to weaken, stiffen and waste. MND can affect how you walk, talk, eat, drink and breathe. Some people also experience changes to their thinking and behaviour. However, MND affects everyone differently. Not all symptoms will affect everyone, or in the same order. Symptoms also progress at varying speeds, which makes the course of the disease difficult to predict. MND is life-shortening and there is no cure. 1 in 300 people are diagnosed in their lifetime. https://www.mndassociation.org/about-mnd/what-is-mnd The MND Association has proved to be an invaluable organisation that has helped but in terms of funding, as it is such a rare disease monetary support is in short supply. Their family home will need significant alterations in order to help Patrick live his life to the best of his ability and as you can appreciate this will bear a considerable cost. The family also want to be able to spend as much time together as possible, creating lots of precious memories together. Family and friends are helping as much as possible but there is, as we all know, no money tree! Over the coming months family and friends will be doing fundraisers which will also go into this pot of money, details of which will be shared as and when. We appreciate this has been an incredibly difficult and anxious time, but please spare a moment to consider how, hopefully, a united effort will help Patrick, Sarah and their family make the times ahead a little less worrisome - THANK YOU! I think a donation from us would really help right now. Much love as always Jack And Miranda’s story: Hi, a single parent journalist I know has a poor son going through absolute hell. Her entire family support network has very sadly been decimated over recent years and combined with losing so much of her reliable income during Covid has found her turning to go fund me to help sooth the agony of her boy. I’d love to support as I know it would go such a long way and help restore her faith in the world after a brutal couple of years. X https://www.gofundme.com/f/2efn4gkj20
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