Increase Funding for Motor Neurone Disease

Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a neurological disorder that affects the nerves, which causes the muscles in the throat, arms and legs to deteriorate. It is a terminal disease that nobody can survive. MND is also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease in America and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) around the rest of the world.

Some facts on MND are as follows:

- 50% of people die within the first 14 months of being diagnosed;
- 3-5 years is the average lifespan from diagnosis;
- at least one person dies every day and another is diagnosed in Australia;
- there are 1,400 people living with this disease at any given time;
- the number of people being diagnosed increases every year;
- there is no prevention, effective treatment or cure.

Unfortunately there is not enough being done in this country to find a cure as there is insufficient funding for researchers. Millions of dollars are requested every year for MND research and most of the funding gets allocated to other research programs, like cancer for instance. The life of a patient with MND is just as precious as that of a cancer patient. The major difference between the two are that cancer is curable and MND is not and that has to change. All the money and contacts in the world will not save someone from this atrocious disease as there is no known cure.

An International ALS/MND Symposium will be held in Sydney later this year and it would be beneficial for this country if we are seen by the rest of the world as being actively committed and at the forefront to finding a cure for MND. This will not be possible without adequate funding from the government.