A DUNFERMLINE woman is taking on a 24-hour sponsored silence in memory of her mother-in-law who died after a battle with Motor Neurone Disease.

Lesley Izatt was joined by her two daughters-in-law as they try to understand for the day the challenges that Margaret Izatt faced by not being able to talk.

Margaret, who died in January, aged 77, was diagnosed with a form of MND called progressive bulbar palsy in 2019.

The gran not only lost her ability to communicate verbally but she was prevented from swallowing, which proved to be fatal.

Lesley, 49, who was Margaret's carer, told the Press: "It's horrific what Margaret went through. MND is a disgusting, horrible disease.

"But, unfortunately, it seems to becoming more common and case rates have gone up.

"Margaret couldn't eat any solid food and we had to liquidise it all. It got to the point that she couldn't even have anything with a texture with it, just liquid drinks and tomato soup, so she just become too frail.

"She was very determined but there were times when she was frustrated, and so was I, it was very hard.

"They said she would only be with us for a year when she was diagnosed but she made it to two.

"At first, she could still get out and about even though she couldn't speak and she would use an app to communicate with us.

"After she died, I was cleaning out her purse when I found little notes that said, 'I'm sorry, I can't talk, please take me to Dunfermline'.

"I've done some fundraising so far but that's when we came up with the idea to do a sponsored silence."

Margaret's family noticed that something wasn't right shortly after her husband, George, died in 2018.

At first, doctors thought her speech issues had been brought on by grief but her communication only got worse.

Lesley continued: "MND is specific to each person and no two cases are the same.

"After George died, we couldn't hear what she was saying, it was almost whispering.

"She was given grief counselling but by the end of the year it was really bad and she was just making noises.

"I went back to the doctor's and said this isn't right and by May 2019 she had been diagnosed.

"It just affected her mouth and throat so her tongue literally wasted away because she couldn't use the muscles there.

"Margaret was able to get a feeding tube but she refused it and by the time she decided she wanted to give it a go, it was too late.

"I had to be there all the time as she was still living alone. She would go to the hospice at the Victoria Hospital on a Monday and Friday which was great because I knew she was safe. But that was stopped due to COVID-19.

"What Margaret went through was just horrific and traumatic for her and us. Just finding ways to feed her and give medication, such as crushing custard with tablets and syringing it down the back of her throat – we'll never forget that."

As part of the sponsored silence, Lesley, Sarah and Stacey, are hoping to raise £1,000 for Motor Neurone Disease Scotland.

Challenges included going through a McDonald's drive-thru to make it extra hard to get through the 24 hours!

"MND Scotland were a brilliant support and they gave us a dietitian called Angela and a nurse called Louise, who were fantastic," Lesley explained.

"The disease affects everyone in the family and even now they have kept in contact with us."

Ahead of the challenge she said: "We are a family of chatterboxes so this will be a big challenge! I think we're going to have to put duck tape over our mouths!

"We're starting off on Friday at 7pm in Casa Mia and we've also been challenged to go through the drive-thru at McDonald's, so it's not going to be easy!

"Someone's even giving us £90 to order a round of drinks at Wee Jimmy's in Cowdenbeath!

"MND were invaluable to our family so we thought it appropriate to undertake this sponsored silence and repay our thanks."

To donate to the 24-hour sponsored silence visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/silencespeaks24hour