First City Against MND event to be held April 18

Industry participants and firms from across London’s futuresand options industry are coming together to hold a charity event next month toraise awareness and funds for research into Motor Neurone Disease.

On April 18, the market will come together for the launchevent of the ‘City Against MND Network,’ a new initiative set up by a group ofpeople who work in the City of London that have been touched by the disease.

MND (also known as ALS in North America) is a fatal, rapidlyprogressing disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. It kills a third ofpeople within a year and more than half within two years of diagnosis. Itattacks the nerves that control movement so muscles no longer work. It canleave people locked in a failing body, unable to move, talk, swallow andeventually breathe. There is currently no cure.

The event and group is supported by Fidessa – which ishosting the launch evening at its London office – media relations firm TheRealisation Group and the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA), with theevening designed to introduce the group’s work to the market, and the researchproject that City Against MND is aiming to fund, while increasing awarenessabout the disease and the devastating effects on those living with it.

Speaking at the launch will be the MNDA patron and formerEngland Test cricketer Chris Broad, Dr Brian Dickie, director of research developmentat the MNDA and David Setters, FOW founder and long-time managing director andpublisher, event organiser and consultant at Contango Markets who has beenliving with MND since 2012.

“Up to 5,000 people in the UK are living with MND and sixpeople die from it each day,” Setters told FOW. “It is not as rare as peoplethink with recent statistics showing that a person's lifetime risk of developingMND is just 1 in 300. As in any other walk of life, it will have touched manypeople working in financial services.

“The City Against MND Network aims to provide a focus forcorporate, collaborative and individual giving from the City, its institutionsand service companies. I’ve already found several individuals in the futuresbusiness who have been in some way “touched” by the disease, whether throughfamily, colleagues or friends,” added Setters.

The group is hoping to help fund a research project at thenew Francis Crick Institute at St Pancras run by University College London. “Withthe Institute being so close to its doorstep, we hope that the City and itsinstitutions will get behind this very important work and help accelerate ouradvance towards a long hoped for cure,” said Setters.

To register for the event, go to: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/city-against-mnd-networking-evening-tickets-22465532011

For more information, please contact David Setters ondavidsetters57@gmail.com