West Warriors

Brian and Elsa West have lived in Gawsworth since 2002 and have three adult children, who all went to the village school. Elsa is still seen at the school daily, childminding many local children over the years.

In April 2025, Brian was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND/ALS) which is a terminal condition with no cure and only one treatment which can extend life by a few months.

MND is a progressive disease and the average survival time from first symptom onset is 3-5 years. As the disease progresses, it can lead to loss of use of arms, legs, voice, the ability to swallow and finally the ability to breathe.

However, in most cases the brain and senses are unaffected, and the person becomes locked in a body that fails, with communication very difficult.

The West family have this journey ahead of them. Looking at Brian, you probably wouldn’t realise he has MND as his current symptoms are progressive weakness, never ending fatigue, and random painful muscle cramps and twitches throughout his body, all the time.

But as the disease progresses, Brian will decline and will need his house adapted to allow for a wheelchair, downstairs facilities including wetroom, a hoist for when he is unable to move and many other aids.

Knowing the future, #WestWarriorsMND was formed to raise money to help Brian live fully with MND. The local community has already begun raising funds to help Brian, with Jaunty Janet’s cake sale, Russ Burgess and family creating the Gawsworth classic putting golf and a stall at the school Rose queen Fete. There have been many very generous donations from people in the village and further afield.

We hope this article has been able to help spread the word on what a cruel disease MND is. If you can help in any way, #WestWarriorsMND have a gofundme page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-brian-live-fully-with-mnd-westwarriorsmnd