Alli is taking on the Shut Up! For MND Challenges on Thursday 13 November to help raise awareness and funds to support people living with MND, in honour of her mother.

"I chose to take part in the Challenge in honour of my mother in hopes that the funds raised will help other people who end up in a similar situation.

My Mum lived her life to the fullest, she went skydiving at 50, she drove every year for 13 years across the Nullarbor to camp in the Outback completely remote and spend months on end out there. She went on bush walks, she went to waterfalls, she swam every day during the summer, she cared and spoiled her grandkids, she lived her life. I think I could count on one hand the number of doctors visits she had before one simple fall on a bush walk with her grandchildren. After breaking her ankle, mum's health seemed to take one hit after the other. Just when we thought she was back on track, the doctors decided to take the metal pin out of her ankle. 

In the months after the operation we slowly started to notice small changes in mum. Her speech wasn’t as clear, and she seemed to forget simple words. When we convinced mum to go to the doctors she was told it was a symptom of aging. Because mum was so healthy and active throughout her life, she didn't see the doctors regularly. When her symptoms developed they didn't know how dramatically out of character that was for mum, so they assumed they were symptoms of ageing. If it wasn't for my sister, my father, my family pushing and advocating she may never have got her diagnosis. Mum's symptoms seemed to keep progressing, and we still could not get answers. It took us 12 months, several doctors visits lots of advocating and private specialist appointments for mum to get a first opinion of a MND diagnosis.

By the time she had an appointment for confirmation of the diagnosis by the public system it was nearing Christmas. This meant a lot of the services mum needed were not available for weeks. MND Victoria were really supportive. They came and assessed mum and house and looked at what equipment they could help us with and what she would need. Not all of it was available and we went on the waitlist. Mum had quite an aggressive form of MND which progressed rapidly. From the time of the official diagnosis to her passing was only three months. Mum wanted to remain at home but the speed in which the disease developed we didn't have the with the limited time we had, we didn't get access to all the resources or the support to be able to care for her properly at home. 

The hardest part of MND isn't losing someone you love, it's having to watch the strongest person you know lose their independence, their bodily autonomy and their will to live. We weren't ready to lose Mum, we had all seen the average life expectancy of someone with motor neurone disease and we thought we had more time.

More awareness is needed, more education is needed, so that hopefully the next person can be heard while they still have their voice. My hope is by bringing awareness and raising funds through the Shut Up! Challenges there might be more resources available for people suffering the disease and, with more education and awareness for the community and health professionals, other families might have an easier journey."

80% of people living with motor neurone disease lose their ability to speak as the disease progresses and become reliant on other ways of communicating.

By taking part in the Shut Up! For MND: Challenges Edition, you’ll help raise vital awareness and funds for those living with MND now.

Join now and take on a day of powerful Challenges on November 13 – How many challenges will you complete?