Our fund raising is picking-up pace. MouseDoctor has either lost his bet or is losing it fast; he bet that we would not raise any money via this blog! He is clearly wrong!
Why the MS Society and MS Trust?
As you know the MS Society and MS Trust are organisations that supports MSers and makes their lives a little easier; they provide much needed services, information and advocacy. The MS Society also supports research into the causes of MS and how to tackle the unmet needs of MSers. They are about to launch a major initiative on progressive MS.
The MS Society and MS Trust are charities that rely on donations to do their work. Your donation, however small, will help. Who knows the next big breakthrough in progressive MS may come from research funded by your donation.
Please help us hit our targets and prove MouseDoctor wrong!
Thank you.
Please donate via JustGiving: Gavin & Cheryl or Adam & Alison or Katie & Róisín!
I bet MouseDoctor is correct; why should we give money to the MS Society?
Wonder if your number one fan Joan (Joan@joanbeal.net) will sponsor you, after all you got her CD
Re: "why should we give money to the MS Society?"How about to allow then to sponsor high-quality peer-reviewed research into progressive MS? Or to fight your corner when NICE says no to Alemtuzumab in 12 months time? They are a charity and have no way of earning money except by raising it through donations. The pain and discomfort we will feel running the marathon must be nothing compared to the chronic anxiety the CEO and Board of Trustees of the MS Society and MS Trust must feel when they look at their dwindling reserves and fall in income from donations. We live in a caring society that looks after each other; donating to a charity is simply an extension of that. I sincerely hope the other blog readers feel differently to you.
Yeah, let's all denote to the MS Society so that Simon Gillespie can make sure he gets his £85,000 p/a sallary.There is so much waste in big charaties. They function like big corporations.I'd rather give my donation to the The MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, directly. That's where the real research into curing MS is happening. Even J.K. Rowling has eschewed the MS Society in favour of donating to the The MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, to whom she gave £10 million, as she argues the MS Society was too much of a ego-driven clique.
"I'd rather give my donation to the The MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, directly. That's where the real research into curing MS is happening".This is your choice, after all it is your money. I am sure they would love to recieve itBut would you be happy to close down all the stuff at Cambridge, London, Bristol and the rest of the UK etc etc etc and have a monoculture of MS research?… This seems a risky strategy.I wonder how much the Head of the MRC Centre of regenerative Medicine gets, bet it is more?
Re: "Simon Gillespie can make sure he gets his £85,000 p/a"CEO's of UK charities get paid ~20% less than the contemporaries running private sector companies with similar number of staff. You will find that compared to other UK charity heads Simon Gillespie's salary is very modest. How much do you think the head of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children's charity is paid?
For me it´s just a matter of trust. So if Prof G decides to run this marathon and asks us for support by donating to a certain charity. I´ll do it. You can always ask why did he choose that one and not another…. that's not so important. The important thing for me is that he is trying to do something and that's what I'm supporting. I really admire the effort he´s putting in for us MSers. //Swedish Sara
"I'd rather give my donation to the The MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, directly. That's where the real research into curing MS is happening. Even J.K. Rowling has eschewed the MS Society in favour of donating to the The MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, to whom she gave £10 million, as she argues the MS Society was too much of a ego-driven clique. "The reason people were not happy with the original JK Rowling donation was that it was only to be used in Scotland not the UK as a whole. I always thought this was suspect and a grave mistake, others who perhaps voiced this opinion to her obviously knocked her nose out of joint so the toys left the pram.She is free to donate her money to whoever she wants, but at least giving it to the MRC centre means the UK as a whole may benefit rather than just Scotland, though I'm sure there are plenty of egos there as well.
I am sure she is happy supporting the English in Edinburgh
"Edinburgh has given me so very much that I have been looking for a way to give something meaningful back to the city for a long time. I cannot think of anything more important, or of more lasting value, than to help the university attract world-class minds in the field of neuroregeneration, to build on its long and illustrious history of medical research and, ultimately, to seek a cure for a very Scottish disease. I have just turned 45, the age at which my mother, Anne, died of complications related to her MS. I know that she would rather have had her name on this clinic than on any statue, flower garden or commemorative plaque, so this donation is on her behalf, too; and in gratitude for everything she gave me in her far-too-short life." – JK Rowling 31 August 2010
Donation to the UK or USA MS societies will help to fund research that could help MSers all over the world. But I should donate to our own MS Society first. This post reminded me to do that. (A bigger donation by cheque to our local society and a small one on Prof G's page) I like what Swedish Sara wrote. It will be very sad if MouseDoc wins the bet.
Good luck and thank you to all the runners. Just switch to walking when tired. I hope that's allowed
Well, hopefully all the runners survived 🙂 and I´m sure the MouseDoctor will be waiting for you at the finish line sharing for you..well here you have some virtual sharing from me..Never stop trying..//Swedish Sara
Dear Roshni and Swedish SaraThank you for your support!
The comment about Simon Gillespies salary is incorrect, he actually gets over £130,000 a year. If in doubt check their accounts on the Charity Commission.