Branksome man running every day in January for charity

A Dorset man has been running a mile a day to raise money for Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Russel Trent has been running a mile every day throughout January with his six-year-old son, Eli.

Russel, who lives in Branksome, was inspired to take on this challenge after finding the cause on Facebook.

He has a history of running and fundraising for varying charities, yet this one hit close to home for him as his friend was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND).

MND is an autoimmune disease that is progressive, affecting mobility and senses over time as it attacks the brain and nervous system.

Russel explained how this impacted on him: “You essentially start to lose sensation and mobility,

“You know it will eventually impact your ability to walk, your mobility around your hands and general moving around.

“It can affect your breathing and eating. As it gets worse and worse, more and more of your body begins to shut down and you lose the ability to do any number of things. ”

Russel explained why it is so important to raise money and awareness about MND.

“We’ve raised about 300 pounds and about 200 pounds could provide a bio zoom system that creates a foam that provides taste.

“Where people have lost the ability to swallow, they can still eat, but they don’t necessarily have taste, and that foam goes into their mouth and gives them the taste of food.

“Even the small amounts, that we’ve raised can make huge differences to people’s lives that suffer from MND.”

Mr Trent has been doing this challenge with his son, Eli, to get them out and about and spending quality time together.

Russel shared that their reward at the end of the month will be a fish and chips from their local shop as that is what has motivated Eli to run with his dad.

“It’s been good working with him to try and get him into pacing and that kind of stuff, because he wanted to fly off at the beginning,

“He’s up on little walls and running along and jumping off, and it’s like running along with Spider-Man.

“It’s been good, and we’ve had lots of chat and conversation.”