Back Up is a UK charity dedicated to supporting people affected by spinal cord injury.
The charity provides crucial services for families. Someone is permanently paralysed every four hours in the UK, and Back Up provides everything from mentoring and guidance to support on finding wheelchair and sourcing carers.
There are currently around 80 people in Leeds being treated for motor neurone disease (MND).
The Leeds Hospitals Charity aims to raise £5m to build a specialist MND care centre in Leeds to give people with MND the best quality of life.
The Rob Burrow Centre would see all MND services housed under one roof for the first time.
Rob Burrow is a former Leeds Rhinos player who has been courageously sharing his story of motor neurone disease since he was diagnosed at the age of 37.
So far around £2m has been raised, so there is still a long way to go to reach the £5m target, and Martin hopes to raise awareness of the cause.
Find out more here about the Rob Burrow Centre MND appeal.
The mental health of Martin, his family, friends and colleagues is at the top of his list of priorities.
Martin is therefore pleased to support the important work of Mind, the mental health charity.
Mind provides advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem, and campaigns to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding.
We never truly know what’s going on inside someone’s head. This means we must all act with kindness and compassion towards others, and try to educate ourselves about the best way to handle a mental health crisis.
Find out more about Mind, and how to support the charity, here.
Suffering from significant hearing loss himself, Martin knows the challenges that present to those hard of hearing.
The Jewish Deaf Association aims to create a world where there are no barriers to communication and understanding between deaf and hearing people.
Originally set up to support the needs of deaf people of the Jewish faith, the charity’s services are now broader and open to everyone.
Brainwave offers an amazing service that can truly make a difference to children’s lives.
Brainwave is a UK-wide charity that helps children with disabilities reach their full potential through specialist therapy programmes.
The charity’s ethos is that the family home is where children respond best, and Brainwave focuses on delivering a child’s therapy at home.
Martin and the team at BigChange are proud to support Beechwood Cancer Care, which provides an essential role in supporting those with life-limiting conditions.
Beechwood, based in Cheshire, specialises in all kinds of support to those suffering from cancer, as well as their relatives and carers.
Find out more about BeechwoodCancer Care.