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On 24th May 2020 over 330 police officers, police staff, friends and family nationwide are all coming together to run either the half or full ‘Rock n Roll Marathon’ in Liverpool.
Assistant Chief Constable Chris Johnson, of West Midlands Police was very sadly diagnosed with Motor Neurones Disease (MND) in 2018 which is an utterly cruel disease that shuts down nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Being the incredible man that he is, ACC Johnson is still working until he needs to stop and to support him and his family to raise awareness of MND and to also raise funds for Primrose Hospice who are looking after Chris and his family, Team #WMPMND was born who will all run together in the Liverpool race on 24th May.
Most of those taking part are none runners which is huge testament to how Chris Johnson is valued within WMP and nationally and Chris’s wife Sharon has also signed up to the race to support Chris as she knows his suffering will be her motivation as she finishes the course.
We implore you to join us and to come together as one big family to show support for each other in our times of crisis. We already have some top level support too with Chief Constables, Deputy Chief Constables and ACC’s running with us plus an abundance of police officers, police staff, family and friends.
Our aspiration and our ask of you as members of the PSUK and Sports and Social clubs is to have at least one representative from each force within Team #WMPMND running in the Liverpool race. So far we have the following forces represented but would love to have as many as we can.
- CC South Wales: Matt Jukes
- CC North Wales and former WMP: Carl Foulkes
- Met Commander and former WMP: Alex Murray
- DCC North Wales: Richard Debicki
- DCC Merseyside: Serena Kennedy
- ACC Merseyside: ACC Rob Carden
- CC Cleveland Police: Richard Lewis
- DCC Cumbria: Mark Webster
- ACC Northamptonshire Police: James Andronov
- Leicestershire Police on secondment to the Met: Supt Paul McKinder
- Retired ACC Leicestershire and former WMP: Phil Kay:
- Surrey Police: PC Vicky Hunt:
- West Mercia Police: DC Antony Powles:
- Warwickshire Police: PC Jay Bradburn former WMP
- Derbyshire Police: PCSO Victoria Beardall and her three little ones
- Derbyshire Police: DS Christine Howard, Christine’s father also has MND
- Derbyshire Police: DC Karl Webster
- Derbyshire Police: PC Shaun Bott
- Derbyshire Police: PCSO Shane Peach
- Staffs Police: DI Katy Tomkins
- Staffs Police: Supt Tracy Meir
Here is a link to the Good Morning Britain interview that Chris and Sharon Johnson did a little while ago. It really is heart wrenching but also heart-warming as they talk about how they are dealing with this cruel and terminal disease.
Here is the link to our latest Federation article which covers our story https://www.polfed.org/westmids/ezine-articles/campaign-to-support-acc-gathers-pace/
Unfortunately the race and accommodation are all self-funded but it will be an event I am sure that no one will ever forget.
If you would like to join #WMPMND please contact DS Trudy Gittins and she will send you everything you need to know. [email protected]
If you are unable to join #WMPMND but would like to donate, please do so via this link and please leave a message so that we know who you are so that we can thank you https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/WMPMND
Many thanks for taking the time to read this email as by doing so we have already raised awareness of MND.