Worcester mum working to raise awareness around MND following own diagnosis
38-year-old Stacy Bozward was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) last summer
A mum-of-two from Worcestershire has said she wants to raise more awareness and funds for research into Motor Neurone Disease (MND) to help find a cure after being diagnosed with it.
38-year-old Stacy Bozward, who's based in Worcester, received a diagnosis last summer, with her and husband Barry dating some of her initial symptoms back to July 2024 when she had a sore neck after coming back from a family holiday.
The pair mentioned how things then started to develop "quite quickly", Stacy said she knew something was "seriously wrong" as she "couldn't lift her arms above the top of her head" and "started to get breathless" when climbing stairs.
Trips to the doctors followed, before eventually being referred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where they ran further tests and reached an MND diagnosis.
Now, the former footballer, who represented the likes of West Bromwich Albion over her career and played since she was eight-years-old, is wanting to further highlight what MND is to people and the importance of work to try and uncover a cure for it.
"It’s amazing how many people haven't even heard of MND and that needs to change," she said.
"We need to find a cure because no family should have to be going through what we are and what so many other families are going through."
Following her diagnosis, a charity match took place at Areley Kings Football Club featuring many of Stacy’s former teammates and managers which raised £1,013 and was spilt between the MND Association (MNDA) and Matt Gallagher Foundation.
The Kick for a Cure celebrity football match has now also been organised for the 27 June at the home of the Worcester Warriors and Worcester FC Sixways Stadium, with all proceeds going to MND charities.
"Up until about a year prior to my diagnosis I was still playing," she said.
"To go from that, to this, in a wheelchair, with a breathing machine, I should still be running around the football pitch.
"So it's really, really difficult for me to even think about but it’s my passion and I wanted to do something to raise money and awareness but also something that I love."
On the day itself, she added: "It should be a really good fun family day getting the community together, raising awareness and raising money, which is so needed, because more research needs to be going into MND and why it's happening because it's just devastating so many families like ours."