• Question: Hi Alison, i read through your profile and im 5ft 2' as well so dont worry i'd wish too be taller too. Anyway, my mums friend was recently diagnosed with motor neuron disease and as that is what you are studying i was wondering if there was anyway you could explain it so that i would understand it. Also my mum has a diseasecalled multiple sclerosis and i am curious to know if mnd and ms are similar in any way?

    Asked by JazzyDx to Ali on 8 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Alison Thomson

      Alison Thomson answered on 8 Nov 2014:

      Thanks for the question! I’m glad I’m not the only 5 ft 2″er that wants to be taller!

      Motor Neuron Disease is an illness that makes your nerves sick, so they can’t work any more. These are the nerves that give the instructions to the rest of your body. For example, if I wanted to raise my right arm in the air, it would be my motor neuron nerves telling my muscles to raise my right arm.

      So in motor neurone disease, these motor neurons can’t tell their muscles to move. Luckily, there are millions and millions of motor neurons in our bodies, and each muscle has thousands of motor neurons working together telling it what to do, so when people have motor neuron disease they can still move their muscles, but they find it harder because not all of the motor neurons are helping. Unfortunately in MND we can’t stop the nerves from getting sick and dying, so muscles get weaker as more nerves die.

      I hope this helps you to understand your mum’s friends illness, and I’m sorry to hear that she suffers from it.

      As for multiple sclerosis, it is quite similar to motor neurone disease – the nerves are getting sick again in this illness. The difference is that its the bits of the nerves that carry instructions that don’t have enough insulation. It’s kind of like when you’re cold – you find it harder to do things and you move slowly, but when you put a jacket on and warm up a bit you find it easier to move around and do stuff. In MS, the nerves don’t have their jackets on, so they find it harder to carry instructions around.

      A bit of a long answer but I hope this has helped! And thanks for the question!

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