Yahoo News Islanders join motor neurone disease challenge to show women can get it too
Female friends from the Isle of Wight have joined a walk to raise awareness about motor neurone disease.
It is part of a wider challenge, which has seen five men walk from Twickenham Rugby Stadium to the Island, via Southampton, after their friend, Rob Steele, was diagnosed.
The mainly novice walkers set off from London on May 14 and have been circumnavigating the Island, in a journey that has seen them take in 150 miles over seven days, in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Meanwhile, Islander Jonquil Tasker was diagnosed with MND last year and friends say it has 'completely turned her and her family’s lives upside down'.
From left: Charlotte and her mum, Jonquil. (Image: Jane McGregor)
The swim teacher and former teaching assistant now uses a wheelchair and is unable to talk.
MND in women is rarely publicised and Jonquil wants to change the misconceptions, to show it can affect anyone: Young or old, male or female.
Joining in with the final leg of the 150MND challenge, Jonquil, her friends and her family met at the Woodvale Arms pub in Gurnard, on Monday, May 20.
Jane McGregor, said: "Jonquil is one of the bravest and most courageous women that I know.
"Hopefully this event will give her the courage and confidence she needs to step out from her usual backstage position to take some of the limelight that she deserves."
