A woman from Edinburgh is going to climb Ben Nevis in memory of her mother, who tragically died just days after a devastating motor neurone disease (MND) diagnosis. Connie Passmore passed away just three weeks before her 60th birthday, on April 2, 2018.
To mark the fifth anniversary of her mum's heartbreaking death in two weeks' time, Holly Passmore will take on the gruelling challenge of scaling the UK's highest peak to raise funds for MND Scotland, reports Edinburgh Live.
Speaking on the first time Connie began showing symptoms of the debilitating disease, Holly, from Colinton, said: “The first big symptom we noticed was in the spring of 2017 when mum began to dramatically lose weight."
The mum-of-two's condition continued to deteriorate, with no clear idea of what was causing the issues. She began to struggle eating and walking upstairs, regularly becoming breathlesss. Holly, who now works for brain health company, Heights, was studying at the University of Strathclyde at the time.
She said: “It also started to look like she had arthritis in her hands: she couldn’t hold cutlery properly, was dropping drinking glasses when drying them, couldn’t open jars, had shaky handwriting as she found it difficult to grip a pen .”
After a holiday to Greece, where Connie struggled to swim and found difficulty getting up and out of a sunlounger, she visited a neurologist. Recalling the evening she discovered her mum may have MND, Holly said: "I remember him saying that this was the most difficult thing he had ever had to keep a secret and then he told us that our mum most likely had motor neurone disease.”
Holly continued: “I don’t think either me or Jack had ever heard of MND before then. I can remember my dad asking us if we knew who Stephen Hawking was before explaining that unfortunately, unlike Stephen Hawking who was a rare case that lived for decades, if it was indeed MND, that our mum might not have a lot of time left. We finally understood why she was receiving those antibody tests.”
Sadly, after months of testing, Connie was officially diagnosed with MND on March 27, 2018. Since December 2017, Connie had suffered a lingering cough and just 48 hours after receiving her diagnosis, her cough appeared to worsen and she started showing signs of flu-like symptoms.
Holly said: “We took her to the emergency room on March 29 and it turned out to be pneumonia. After three days in hospital, despite showing signs of improvement, mum peacefully passed away in her sleep on April 2, 2018, six days after her official diagnosis.
Now, five years on, Holly will climb Ben Nevis with 15 of her closest friends, hoping to raise £5,000 for charity. Many of the climbers are long-term pals of Holly's and have fond memories of Connie, as a warm and nurturing person with a contagious smile and energy.
Julie Macdonald, MND Scotland’s head of fundraising, said: “MND is so brutal and fast. That’s why we need to continue fighting to find a cure for this devastating disease. Thanks to supporters like Holly, we are able to continue investing in cutting-edge MND research and provide vital support to people living with the disease in Scotland today.”
To donate to Holly's fundraiser, click HERE.
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