Learn about MND

MND is a fatal and typically rapidly progressing disease which affects the motor neurons of the nervous system (the cells that carry messages from the brain to your muscles).

MND damages the nerves that control movement. This means that the messages being sent from the brain stop reaching the muscles. As muscles weaken, people lose their ability to walk, talk, eat, and breathe.

Progression can happen quickly, but the speed varies from person to person. Approximately one third of people die within a year of diagnosis, and more than half die within two years. Some treatments help to manage certain symptoms of MND, but this is not good enough.

MND doesn’t discriminate. It affects people from all walks of life and of all ages. While it is most common in adults aged 50 and older, young people under the age of eighteen can also be affected, though it is rare.

MND is a complex disease that we don’t fully understand yet. But the research we fund is helping us understand its biology so we can turn breakthroughs into life-changing treatments.

MND affects up to 5,000 adults in the UK at any given time. The risk of anyone dying from MND is around 1 in 300.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is the most common type of MND. In the UK, motor neuron disease (MND) is the umbrella term for a group of conditions that affect motor neurons, including ALS. In the UK, we typically refer to ALS as MND but other countries use ALS as a term more commonly.