'Incredibly important' | How can employers support staff with motor neurone disease?

Cast your mind back a decade. It’s Summer 2014 and Facebook feeds are suddenly awash with videos of people having buckets of ice water dunked over their heads.

The viral trend during which sopping wet friends and family publicly demand you join the “Ice Bucket Challenge” through chattering teeth is not due to some sudden, unexpected heatwave – the average UK temperature over Summer 2014 clocks in at an underwhelming 13.8°C – but instead to raise awareness and money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS.

Ten years on, a look back shows the campaign’s impact was monumental. It raised over £88million within a month, the funds of which contributed to the discovery of a gene variant associated with the condition.

But despite the breakthrough and ongoing studies, there is still no known cure for the condition; nor are there for other less common types of motor neuron disease (MND).