Half marathons to raise awareness for motor neurone disease
Jaques Pretorius’s eyes beamed with joy yesterday as he watched his buddy Morné Basson attempt to smash a Guinness World Record for running 72 consecutive half marathons to raise awareness for those suffering from motor neurone disease.
Pretorius, who was diagnosed with progressive motor neurone disease after he was retrenched in 2016, gazed with admiration from his wheelchair, a few centimetres from the treadmill at Planet Fitness in Olympus, Pretoria east.
Although he couldn’t utter a word because of his deteriorating condition, he cut a figure of delight and respect to Basson.
They met while Basson was conducting a motor neurone disease awareness campaign. He is wheelchair-bound and can’t move all of his limbs or talk.
His only form of communication is his eyes.
According to his fiancée Marlie Prinsloo, Basson was the reason he took the sickness in his stride.
Strapped in gym regalia and reeking of determination, Basson explained why the cause was so close to his heart: “I lost a family member through this disease and I watched them gradually deteriorate as I sat there hopelessly.”
He vowed to always make a difference in the best way he could. What made it even worse or pushed his cause even further was when his fiancée died from pneumonia.
Read the full story on: IOL.