From the CEO's desk with Stacey Thorpe

I genuinely can’t believe we are almost at the end of the year. It feels like only a few months ago that I was writing my first CEO article but it’s actually been a whole year! It really does feel like time is moving faster than ever before!

It will be Christmas before we know it and I haven’t even had a chance to go shopping yet! I have to admit that I do love this time of year. Giving gifts that make people’s day, spending quality time with loved ones, listening to cheesy Christmas songs and not forgetting the inevitable overindulgence!

Whilst Christmas is a happy time for most, I know it isn’t for everybody. For many of you, it will be the first Christmas without a much-loved member of your family. For others, another year having passed since your loss and for some, a possible last Christmas together. However you are spending the holidays and whoever you are spending them with, I hope you can enjoy long standing traditions or create new ones for the future. I hope you get to reflect on previous Christmases and enjoy the memories that inspires. I hope most of all, that you feel love and joy.

I also hope you will think of us when you are planning your gift giving. A gift of a donation to MND Queensland, is a gift to the MND community as you can be sure it will go towards vital supports for people impacted by MND.

As we approach the end of 2022, it is only appropriate that we look back on the months that have passed and reflect on what we have achieved, before looking forward to what 2023 will bring.

At MND Queensland, it has, without doubt, been another huge year of growth and we are delighted to have been able to further expand our services. We introduced Australia’s first voice banking clinic, set up our own therapy clinic at our office in Oxley, expanded our geographical coverage to have an MND Advisor/NDIS Support Coordinator based on the Sunshine Coast and expanded our Allied Health service to include Physiotherapy and an Allied Health Assistant. We’ve also made numerous improvements internally that I won’t bore you with, but it has been a big year and the team are looking forward to a well-deserved break over Christmas!

We will come back refreshed and ready to hit the ground running in 2023 because we won’t stop until MND does. And until that day, our mission remains to reduce the impact of Motor Neurone Disease on people living with MND, their families and carers.

2023 is a particularly important year for us at MND Queensland as it is the year we turn 40! Like many people, MND Queensland has spent its thirties figuring out who we are and what our place is in the world and we are immensely proud to be able to say that we are the only organisation in Queensland delivering MND expert, integrated multi-disciplinary care. And now we have that figured out, we will spend our 40’s maturing and refining what we do so that we get even better at it!

We couldn’t have achieved nearly as much over the last 40 years without the constant and generous support of the Queensland MND community and we very much hope that you will help us mark 40 years of providing care and support.

A special birthday like a 40th shouldn’t be celebrated on just one day and so we plan to make it a year of celebration culminating in a huge birthday party in September, and you’re all invited! Watch out for updates on our planned activities because 2023 year is going to our biggest and best year yet!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 3