The MND300 print sale is a charity initiative by photographer Mark Sanders, who lost his mother to Motor Neurone Disease (MND). The sale is set to run for 300 hours, highlighting the fact that 1 in 300 people is affected. It offers a collection of prints from more than 100 photographers. Every cent from the sale goes directly to the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) to fund research. Don’t miss your chance to support the project by purchasing an exclusive print at 300mnd.com through 27 October.
Mark Sanders: “MND affects up to 5,000 adults in the UK at any one time. There is a 1 in 300 risk of getting MND during a lifetime. For the first time, there is a realistic possibility of new treatments for motor neurone disease (MND) emerging over the coming years. With your help, buying a piece of work from the print sale will help raise money for research. My Mum was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) at the end of 2022. She was 72. There were things we’d noticed prior to this – such as the odd fall, or that her mobility didn’t seem as good as it once was. Understandably, we’d assumed these were age-related issues.
I called the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) the morning after to ask for help unravelling the news we’d received. It soon became clear that MND is a disease with no cure, and hearing about the 1 in 300 statistic confirmed that it isn’t as rare as we think. It kills a third of people within one year and more than half within two years of diagnosis. This became a benchmark, making me constantly wonder what type of statistic Mum would end up being.
Towards the end of 2023, Mum had to leave her home of over 40 years and move to a full-time nursing home. By this point, she’d been bedridden for months and lost the use of both legs. She was on Bi-Pap 24 hours a day because her lungs couldn’t function on their own. Mum was now unable to speak – our only way of communication was through texting on her phone, which eventually became impossible. Her fully functioning mind was trapped in a non-functioning body.
I talked to Mum about the idea of doing a photography print sale to raise awareness of MND. Once she died, I was even more determined to make it a success – the support I’ve had from photographers all around the world has been overwhelming. My only hope is that there might be a cure or treatment on the horizon soon, but there needs to be a lot more funding in MND research for this to happen. With your help, whatever we donate can make a difference.”
