marathon of pain

24-05-26 My brother Neil was diagnosed with MND just over a year ago. It was a particularly cruel form of motor neuron disease called Progressive Bulbar Palsy, which initially caused problems with his speech, and then all throat functions, including eating and breathing. He had a feeding tube fitted to accommodate eating and latterly wore a mask to help him with breathing and in particular expelling carbon dioxide which built up in his system and gave him panic attacks and sleepless nights. After a long, hard year of progressive difficulties around mid-April he was taken into the Royal Infirmary.He was very much mentally alert, as normal, (he kept his position at his work going until he was taken into hospital, only sending in a Doctor's note the day before he died) and communicated via a speaking keyboard. Things continued to deteriorate and after a few days he opted to have a morphine driver and then turn off the equipment that was keeping him alive. We all visited him on his last…