A MAN with a neuromuscular condition has urged runners to sign up for a race which raises cash for vital medical research.
Management consultant Roger Wild, 62, has spinal muscular atrophy, which causes severe muscle weaknesses.
He said the Town and Gown 10km run – supported by the Oxford Mail – on Sunday, May 12, provides much needed funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.
He said: “It is incredibly important to do the Town and Gown, particularly in a place like Oxford.
“I’m sure academics and the city’s population can really get to grips with the science of eradicating an incredibly debilitating condition, for which the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign is a driving force.
“The more we can do with cell research and treatments and the more people can run and raise money, the better.”
Mr Wild, who uses a powered wheelchair, has campaigned for better treatment for neuromuscular conditions. He is regularly invited to contribute to an all-party parliamentary group on the disease.
Treatment varies depending on the priority given the conditions by 10 NHS strategic health authorities, which cover English regions, he said.
It was only in the last decade the Kingston Bagpuize resident was correctly diagnosed.
He was previously told he had life-threatening Duchenne muscular dystrophy and later Becker muscular dystrophy.
He said: “If the strategic healthy authority’s priorities are not treatment of neuromuscular conditions, you will get a very patchy picture.
“These are for issues like continuing treatment, specialist therapy, and help with specialist wheelchairs.”
He has had to fund his own chair, which he will soon have to replace at a cost of £14,000.
The charity was “the biggest drive in improvements to the clinical management of and research into neuromuscular disease” he said.
It is funding Oxford University research into Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
He said: “I am campaigning for others, particularly for younger people who are newly diagnosed.”
About 4,000 runners will take part in thus year’s 32nd Town and Gown, to start and finish in Parks Road via University Parks and the city centre.
For information and to enter, visit townandgown10k.com
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