Riding the wave of MND

Visionary project

Born in the UK, Ros came to Sydney in her late 20s and met Brian, who described himself as “seventh-generation Australian from convict stock”. Brian had just returned from travelling and working in Asia and Europe.

Growing up in Lismore on the North Coast  of NSW, longboarding was his first and lasting passion. In the 1980s, Brian and his business partner caught another wave - the burgeoning technology industry — and set up an IT company.

Ros and Brian raised a son and had a decades-long adventurous outdoor lifestyle; surfing, skiing, cycling and hiking, taking every opportunity they could to travel in Australia and internationally.

In May 2020, when Brian was 70 and enjoying an active retirement, he was diagnosed with sporadic MND. “It was a bit of a thunderbolt,” says Ros. Brian’s GP referred him immediately to Professor Dominic Rowe at the Interdisciplinary MND Service and Clinic at the Centre for MND Research.

“Our biggest concern right after the diagnosis was: ‘will we get the support we need?’ and we’re so lucky that Dom’s clinic gave us such multifaceted and tailored care,” said Ros. “We call it MND speed dating as the neurologist, speech therapist, dietician and others all come in to help us.”

“We want as many people as possible with MND to benefit from the ground-breaking research and specialist care offered  at Macquarie,”  Ros said.

The couple had a tour of the Centre. “We found it very uplifting, hearing how people had come from all over the world to bring their research expertise together to create this centre,” Ros said. “It’s a really visionary project that’s touching thousands of people’s lives.”

Brian was very grateful that he lived a full and happy life before he developed the disease and the expert care he received since. For this reason, to support more research and the work at the clinic, Ros and Brian gave a generous donation to the Centre.

Sadly, Brian lost his fight with MND in September 2021.