x

The University of Sheffield's Big Walk in aid of motor neurone disease.

Hundreds of staff, students and friends of the University of Sheffield pulled on their walking boots to raise funds for motor neurone disease (MND) research.

The Big Walk event returned on Friday, June 28 after a year’s break and was the seventh such challenge hosted by the university since 2015. The annual event has raised more than £460,000 in total, supporting a variety of life-changing projects over the years such as Yorkshire’s first MRI-Pet scanner as well as student scholarships so that people, regardless of their financial position, can access university education.

More than 450 people took part in the Peak District event including Jen Horsfield and Fiona Bingham, from the university, whose father Andrew – who took part in clinical trials to help find a cure and would have been 60 this year - died from motor neurone disease in October 2023.

Jen said: “Nothing prepares you for watching a loved one deteriorate in such a way. It was heartbreaking to see my dad no longer able to do the things he enjoyed because he lost use of his hands first. It was very difficult to keep up with the rate of deterioration as there is so little known about it. We always felt like MND was one step ahead of us. If we can raise funds to further research into this disease, hopefully, in time we can get ahead of MND."

Fundraisers could take a 20 or 30 mile route across the Peak District, starting from Redmires Playing Field before heading to Hathersage, Curbar, along Fox House and finishing at the university campus.