A fundraising run/walk on Douglas promenades has raised £1,362 for a local charity.

The event was organised by local fitness instructor, Donna Whalley, and was aimed at raising awareness of Multiple System Atrophy (MSA).

MSA is a rare progressive neurological condition with no cure, which is very difficult to recognise and affects five people in 100,000.

Donna, of DLFitness, together with many helpers, put on the Douglas promenades fundraising event and also thanked Lynne Johns from PEME (Personal Energy Management Evolution), who supported the event.

The Manx MSA Trust was formed by Chris Blake after he was diagnosed with MSA in March 2015, aged just 39.

The condition usually starts in the mid 50s so it has taken health professionals more than five years of continuous tests and monitoring on and off the island to finally diagnose Chris with MSA.

The main aim of the charity is to raise awareness of the condition locally and share experiences of living with MSA, with the hope of making it less harrowing for future patients.

Chris launched the charity’s first project in June, through Jurby Wellness, which aims to identify an early diagnosis for MSA via a blood test.

Chris said: ’I would hope there is some learning from what I’ve been through and that the pathway is clearer for future patients.’

The charity hopes to design a simple test for the disease and one day find treatments and eventually find a cure.

Personal trainer Donna said: ’I was contacted seven months ago by Chris via his wonderful care team in the NHS for some specialised personal training sessions, thus my involvement in the charity. It’s an aggressive Parkinsonism variant whch mainly affects the brain, in turn affecting many autonomic functions that we all take for granted like digestion, breathing, speech, swallowing, movement and the bodies ability to regulate blood pressure. I help mainly with movement, as the muscles in MSA patients waste away if not used daily.’

Read more at www.manxmsa.com