Two Knights and a Dame – a spectacular Ice Bucket Challenge for MND

Sir Andrew Cash, Chief Executive of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sir Keith Burnett, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield and Professor Dame Pamela Shaw, Consultant Neurologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Director of the Sheffield Institute of Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) have taken the icy challenge to raise awareness for MND research outside SITraN.

Sir Keith Burnett, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, said:

"I am very proud to have been asked to take part in the Ice Bucket Challenge by the wonderful Professor Dame Pamela Shaw - an inspirational academic and clinician who has dedicated her career to understanding neuro-degenerative diseases such as MND and to finding the treatments which are so urgently needed.

SITraN inspires supporters from all around the world, and the effort to find solutions is genuinely international. It is an honour to be asked to play a small part in raising awareness and funds alongside Pam and Andrew, whose daily work is so directly relevant to people with MND."

Professor Dame Pam Shaw, Consultant Neurologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Director of SITraN, said:

“The Ice Bucket Challenge has been a wonderful campaign to raise awareness of MND and to channel donations into supporting research into this condition. SITraN was created at the University of Sheffield specifically to bring together under one roof talented clinicians and scientists aiming to understand better the causes of MND and develop new treatment approaches to improve the outlook for MND patients.

The SITraN teams are extremely fortunate to have staunch support from Sir Keith and Sir Andrew to enable the joining of forces from the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals in order to make important steps forward and eventually defeat this devastating neurological condition.”

Sir Andrew Cash, Chief Executive of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “MND has a profound effect on people’s lives, and here in Sheffield we are lucky enough to have SITraN, a fantastic facility right next to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, which offers a beacon of hope to thousands of people suffering with this terrible disease.

“The Ice Bucket Challenge has been hugely popular with the public, and it’s a great way to raise awareness of the disease and the hard efforts of our researchers who are doing so much to find a cure.”

The two knights and the dame nominated the 19 MND Care and Research Centres in the UK including their VCs and Hospital CEOs to do the challenge to increase awareness of this terrible disease.

Around 5,000 people in the UK suffer with motor neurone disease at any one time – and half die within 14 months of diagnosis. The disease leaves sufferers unable to walk, talk and breathe.

For every person diagnosed with MND, 14 family and friends are estimated to have to live with the effects of the disease forever.

SITraN is a state-of-the-art research centre dedicated to finding a cure and better treatments for motor neurone disease. The £18m centre brings together 150 international doctors and scientists and is the only centre of its kind in Europe. It was officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen in 2010.