Daring challenge will see father with Motor Neurone Disease abseil off the Humber Bridge

The father-of-two, from Rise in the East Riding, was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease four years ago and is now confined to a wheelchair and is close to losing the power of speech.

On Sunday, after securing permission from the Humber Bridge Board, he, alongside wife Liz and firefighter Paul Burchett, who has helped to ensure his voice will still be heard after his speech fails, will undertake the challenging abseil in the hope of raising more than £3,000 for charity.

Mrs Liversidge said: “Jason is now confined to a wheelchair and in need of round the clock care, but he hasn’t let that stop him ticking things off his bucket list, doing crazy stunts and raising thousands for charity. In July this year he became the first person to summit Mount Snowdon in a motorised wheelchair, raising £7,700 for charity, and he has previously completed the longest zip wire in the world.

“This is a unique challenge as nobody with MND done this before and it would be a huge challenge for most able bodied people.”

The money will be divided between the Motor Neurone Disease Association, which Mr Liversidge and his family has supported since his diagnosis, and the Fire Fighter’s Charity, after Mr Burchett and his colleagues at Bridlington Fire Station took part in an innovative research project to record their voices so that, when the time comes, Mr Liversidge can speak with his own unique Yorkshire accent when he has to rely on a computer voice synthesizer full time.

The group travelled to a clinic in Edinburgh, at their own expense, to record sentences, that were then mixed with a recording of a speech made by Mr Liversidge at a wedding in 2010, to create a unique synthetic voice that enables him to say anything he wants to using a eye-movement controlled computer.

Mrs Liversidge said: “Ninety per cent of people with MND lose the ability to speak and Jason was keen to retain his voice and identity. He thought if he had a computer-sounding voice, like Stephen Hawking, it would frighten our girls.

“We’ve been very lucky we’ve been able to take part in the Scottish project, and the firefighters in Bridlington were instrumental in Jason being able to retain his distinct Yorkshire accent.”

A family fun day will take place at the abseil site, on the Hessle Foreshore close to the Country Park pub on Cliff Road, from 10.30am on Sunday. There will be a fire engine, bouncy castle and stalls.

Anyone wishing to donate can do so here.