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Hi Everyone,

Tony Coote is my name. On the Wednesday of the beginning of the recent snow in Ireland, I was told I had Motor Neuron Disease. Like others who have received such news I was terrified and my body went into shock. Around this time someone asked to remember that, ‘the diagnosis is not the prognosis’. I have repeated that in my head as a mantra every day. I have also committed myself to living each day, looking to the future and choosing to live rather than exist.

I am a priest in the Dublin Diocese working in Kilmacud and Mount Merrion parishes. I used to play squash twice a week and was always and the go thinking of the next plan and idea. This illness has slowed me up and for the first time since I was a child I fall over easily and have to watch the ground as I walk.

Since I was diagnosed I realised the only medication is 24 years old and that the Motor Neuron Disease Association can only provide three nurses for the whole country with just over 400 people living with this illness. Their salaries are paid for by church gate collections.

Rather than just complaining about these facts I want to use my time and my voice to do something about it. To this end we invite you to become part of Walk While You Can, to donate, walk with us, organise a fundraising event or offer accommodation to around 6 of us doing the whole walk.

All funds will be donated for research for new medication RMN and to the IMNDA for the care of those living with the illness.

PLEASE HELP!

Walk While You Can is all about bringing people and communities across Ireland together to raise vital awareness and support for Motor Neurone Disease. We’ll be walking the length of Ireland this July to generate funds and help highlight the need for more funding in this area – and it would mean so much if you could be there with us. By joining our walk, you are not only lending your voice to our call for better supports and services for people living with this Walk with the condition but making those supports possible. This walk is for everyone, young and old, so, if you’d like to get involved, find out more about our route (here) and let us know where you’ll be joining us by using our Contact Form (Here).

See you there!

About Tony

During his time in UCD, Fr Tony established the charity UCD Volunteers Overseas and national mental health campaign Please Talk.

UCDVO.org

UCDVO was established in 2003 by the former UCD Chaplain Fr Tony Coote in response to an expressed desire among students to engage in voluntary work abroad. Since its inception and launch as a registered charitable organisation in 2004, UCDVO has extended its activities to projects in India, Haiti, Nicaragua,Tanzania and Uganda and employs two full-time staff to co-ordinate its activities. To date, approx 1,500 volunteers have engaged in environmental, educational, healthcare, construction and computer training projects in disadvantaged communities overseas. (UCDVO.org)

PleaseTalk.org

In response to an increase in the rates of suicide among young people, he also headed up the Please Talk campaign, a positive mental health campaign for students, encouraging them to talk about their problems.

Walk While You Can

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