The Walk to Defeat MND Toowoomba is on 8 September from 9AM at Queens Park. It is an opportunity for the community to come together and support a loved one living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) or to pay tribute to someone they’ve lost to this devastating condition by walking or rolling 2km to 4 km. Our Walk Champions, Judy, Cathy, Matthew, and Adrian, will lead our walk this year.
Our Walk Champions, Judy, Cathy, Matthew, and Adrian!
We know MND has directly impacted many in our community, which is why you choose to make a difference. Your ongoing commitment to making a positive impact is commendable, and we've introduced the Walk Champion initiative to celebrate people like you!
Before each Walk, we're asking a family or individual in our community who is participating for a loved one living with MND or is honouring those they've lost to this devastating condition to be Walk Champion. The Walk Champion intentionally leads our Sea of Blue, and we'll share their wholehearted reasons for walking.
Judy, Cathy, Matthew and Adrian’s Wholehearted Reason
Walk Champions Judy, Cathy, Matthew and Adrian are honouring their Husband and Father, Brian. During his lifetime, he played many parts: a sportsman, a musician, a teacher, and a poet; a neighbour and a friend; a man of faith; a husband, a father, an uncle, and a grandfather. He played those parts with sincerity, with integrity, and with his whole heart until MND took his life in early 2021.
He lived a life filled with music and sport and is fondly remembered for his talent on the keyboard. His ability to pick up and play a song by ear entertained many in the family. It wasn’t uncommon for him to belt out stirring renditions of “Rhinestone Cowboy” and Neil Diamond numbers. As a teacher in the classroom and then a leader within the education system, he inspired hundreds of students, leaving a lasting impact that MND could never diminish.
Brian indulging his passion for fishing
He taught in schools across Queensland, including Silkstone, Mackay, Mt Isa, Longreach, and Oxley, later at The Southport School, and later still in England. He was also an Inspector of Schools in the North West Region of Queensland and on the Gold Coast for a number of years. Upon his retirement, he was honoured to be the orator at the Year 12 Graduation Ceremony at TSS, sharing a poignant anecdote about not knowing how the future will pan out, but we can never give up:
“We can’t know what our future holds, but we can imagine, we can plan, and we can dream of what we might become. I urge you to dream. Above all, believe in yourself.” - Brian
Brian (second right) and family at a birthday celebration (December 2019)
When Brian received his MND diagnosis, the family remembers that MND Queensland was critical in helping them access resources and support. Jason, their Advisor/Support Coordinator, drove from Brisbane to their house on the Gold Coast to ensure they received equipment swiftly, which was invaluable.
Adrian described the newly diagnosed journey as “sad and frightening and confusing and hectic”. So many questions needed answering, and they didn’t know how long they had to get them answered. The timely information and guidance MND Queensland’s expert team provided were critical because it gave them access to a lot of relevant information in such a short period of time.
Less than a month after Brian’s passing in February, the family participated in their first Walk at Main Beach on the Gold Coast on 21 March 2021. They felt it was an opportunity to remember and honour Brian as a family.
Brian (centre) and family celebrating Brian’s 80th birthday (October 2020).
Brian’s son Adrian and his wife and daughters now live in Toowoomba, and they have been joined by Judy, Cathy, Matthew, and the rest of Brian’s family from the Gold Coast on this very special day. They're leading our Sea of Blue because they believe funding and resources are undeniably needed. As a family, they feel it’s shameful and inequitable that Queensland is the only State in Australia that does not provide recurrent government funding for those impacted by MND.
Register for the Walk