MND is a fatal, rapidly progressing disease which affects the brain and spinal cord. It attacks the nerves that control movement and eventually leaves people unable to move, communicate or breathe. It kills a third of people within a year of diagnosis and half within two years. There is no cure.
The facts
* MND is a fatal, rapidly progressing disease that affects the brain and spinal cord.
* It attacks the nerves that control movement so muscles no longer work. MND does not usually affect the senses such as sight, sound, feeling etc.
* It can leave people locked in a failing body, unable to move, talk and eventually breathe.
* Over 80% of people with MND experience changes to their speech, which may become slurred or quieter. Some people lose their ability to speak entirely.
* It affects people from all communities.
* Around 50% of people with MND experience some form of cognitive change while living with the disease. This can affect their thinking or behaviour. This percentage rises to around 80% for people who are in the advanced stages of the disease.
* It kills a third of people within a year and more than half within two years of diagnosis.
* A person’s lifetime risk of developing MND is around 1 in 300.
* Six people per day are diagnosed with MND in the UK.
* It affects up to 5,000 adults in the UK at any one time.
* It kills six people per day in the UK, this is just under 2,200 per year.
* It has no cure.
