A motor neurone disease (MND) campaigner has broken the £300,000 mark in his bid to fund research into a cure for the disease.
Gordon Aikman, a former head boy at Kirkcaldy High School, launched the Gordon’s Fightback campaign to help those diagnosed with the disease and raise money for a cure, reached the milestone during MND awareness week.
The 30-year-old was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease last year.
He has already successfully lobbied the First Minister to publicly fund and double the number of specialist MND nurses across Scotland.
Together with MND Scotland, he has also been campaigning for a law change so that the 80%-95% of MND patients who lose their voice are guaranteed the equipment they need to communicate.
Earlier this week, Nicola Sturgeon said she was keen to see communication aids such as eye-gaze technology and speech synthesisers being made routinely available on the NHS.
Mr Aikman was given a British Empire Medal in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list for his campaigning.
Commenting on reaching the £300,000 mark, he said: “This is just amazing.
“I would like to say a massive thank you to each and every one of the 4,220 people who have now donated to Gordon’s Fightback.
“Seeing my fundraising total continue to climb gives me such a massive boost.
“It helps keeps me going but most important of all it means we are closer than ever to the day we find a cure.
“It might be too late for me but we can and we must find a cure for future generations.
“So, please dig deep and give what you can by texting MNDS85 £5 to 70070 today. Thank you.
“It is time for the UK Government to do its bit too. By doubling the amount of money we spend on MND research as a country, we will undoubtedly find that cure faster.”