THREE Mid North Coast firefighters will take on a massive challenge in the hope of raising money for motor neurone disease research.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Aaron Hall, James Turner and Micah Hanson will painstakingly scale 1,504 steps – or 98 floors – of the Sydney tower on October 23.
Not only are they accepting the challenge, they will do it donning their full structural firefighting gear, which weighs an extra 20 kilograms.
Money raised will go to the Macquarie University for MND research.
Motor neurone disease (MND) is the name given to a group of diseases in which the nerve cells - neurones - controlling the muscles that enable us to move, speak, breathe and swallow; experience degeneration and die.
Motor function is controlled by upper motor neurones (UMN) in the brain that descend to the spinal cord; these neurones activate anterior horn cells - lower motor neurones (LMN).
The LMN exit the spinal cord and directly activate muscles. With no nerves to activate them, muscles gradually weaken and waste. The patterns of weakness vary from person to person.
It is estimated that there are presently around 400,000 people worldwide diagnosed with MND and about 1900 people with MND in Australia.
Slightly more men than women are diagnosed with MND, most commonly in the 50 to 60 year age group but may be diagnosed in adults at any age.
There is no cure for MND, but a medication has now been approved in Australia for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, including progressive bulbar palsy) - the most common form of MND.
“I feel like it’s a worthy cause, plus it gives me motivation and an excuse to get fit,” Mr Hall said.
“I’ve been a firefighter for a little over two years and thankfully I haven’t had to go into a burning building or anything like that, so it will be tough.”
He will be joined by two colleagues, and is urging other fire fighters to join the trio by calling him on 0413 493 439.
Mr Turner said he felt an obligation to the community by participating in charity work and trying to raise money for worthy causes such as MND research.
“We’re not just firefighters, we like to help the community when we can, including raising money with this kind of thing,” he said.
“It’s going to be a good team building exercise as well. We aren’t just in the brigade to help during crisis, but I feel we have the extra obligation to go a step further.”
They hope to raise $1,000 each and are asking people for donations. To help, you can visit https://firefightersclimbformnd.everydayhero.com/au/aaron-1