Middlesbrough man living with Motor Neurone Disease tells us what life is like
Today is global MND Awareness Day
We are hearing from a Middlesbrough man and his wife about what it is like to live with Motor Neurone Disease.
54 year-old Dean Fox, who was a keen golfer, was diagnosed in August last year. He had 12 to 18 months of symptoms prior to that.
Currently in the UK, 5,000 people are living with MND, six people die from it every day and 33 percent die within one year of diagnosis.
Dean said: "I had some issues with my throat and then I thought I had some with my hands. I've been backwards and forwards with the GP and they thought I had long Covid or throat cancer.
"Everyone thought I was having a stroke during a family meal. My voice was slurred and my face was dropped on one side.
"I think initially it was really hard as I was able to walk and run but 10 months later, I can't walk more than a few steps."
His wife, Christine, said: "It just feels like we've been turned inside out. For me, you're not aware of what goes on around you and you just feel like you're in this very slow motion bubble. There's really no word for it. It's just like a numbness feeling and then we just had kind of like an outer body feeling.
"As much as the words were coming out of the nurse's mouth and we knew what was kind of coming from some of the results, you almost want to put your hand over her mouth so she doesn't actually express what she's actually saying to you.
"Being Dean's carer and never been ever in that situation and knowing that obviously one day as much as it kills me to say, that I'm not going to have Dean. But for me, I think what I can honestly say is having support with family and friends around you is literally crucial.
"There's so many challenges just with symptoms changing very quickly in the space of three months of kind of diagnosis, and you've got your whole of your life in the background where everything has to just change.
"I just think if anybody's out there who's been diagnosed and it's a friend or a family member you know, go straight to them. Don't be hesitating about whether it's the right time to speak to them. They do need you."
They have set up a Foundation to support others and fund research. You can read more on their website.