A QUEENSLAND family has visited Mount Gambier as they ride around the nation to raise awareness of Motor Neurone Disease (MND) after the death of their father and grandfather in 2017.
Diana, Jozef, Cloe and Jack Wolters started the ride in Bundaberg in January with the aim to raise more than $50,000 to help create a cure and support those living with MND.
They have travelled more than 15,000km around the country, venturing north to Cairns, inland to Normanton and north to Darwin before passing through Katherine, Broome and Perth, crossing the Nullarbor to Adelaide arriving in the South East last week.
As the journey continues, they aim to be home in Bundaburg by February next year.
After Jozef’s father passed away last year, the family members felt compelled to take action to fight the devastating disease.
Although the family is grateful for the work charities such as Fight MND are doing, they wanted their focus to be on supporting those living with the disease in addition to their loved ones, as opposed to just finding a cure.
After applying for an NDIS package when Jozef’s father was diagnosed, the family waited more than a year to be approved, which came three months after he had passed.
This lack of support is the driving force behind their campaign.
“MND is unpredictable and is hard to get support,” Diana said.
“When someone is diagnosed, action needs to be taken straight away as you do not know how long they have.
“There’s no known cause and no cure at the moment, so we need to make quality of life an important part of the fight.
“Those diagnosed with MND are not the only ones suffering, it’s the family members that take care of them every day that feel the pain too – without proper funding and support from the government, it’s a terrible way to live.”
The family is well aware of the challenging consequences following a diagnosis.
“Carers have it so tough as well as they do the best they can, but how do you know when it’s time to put someone in high dependency care?” Jozef questioned.
“The burden it takes on someone’s mental health is astounding – when they pass it’s not just grieving the person, it’s coping with the hell you have been dealing with while they were still here.
“There needs to be a huge focus on fixing this problem.”
With a current total of almost $23,000 raised, the family hopes to reach their goal before they return home.
Visit One Year On Our Bike on Facebook or give.everydayhero.com/au/one-year-on-our-bike to donate.
