A MOTOR Neurone Disease sufferer’s family say his illness will not be in vain if they can raise £36,000 to fund a bed at Bury Hospice.

Alan Neal, aged 66, was given just months to live when he was diagnosed with the rare and incurable condition in December 2012.

Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a terminal illness which damages the nervous system and causes muscle deterioration – leading to total immobility and loss of breathing ability.

Having survived beyond doctors’ expectations and with steadily worsening symptoms, Alan is cared for 24 hours a day by his wife of 28 years, Precious, with help from the couple’s 22-year-old daughter Melody.

After he received care in Bury Hospice – first for a week in October, and for 18 days last month – the family realised the power of the “brilliant” respite nurses there provide.

Alan worked in the police force before running his own private investigative agency and then moving into the legal profession – specialising in “white collar” crime.

The 66-year-old, of Walmersley Road, Bury, said: “Precious was exhausted and on her way to a breakdown. I wanted her to have a respite.

“The care at Bury Hospice was simply brilliant. The nurses do not just care for you – they care about you.”

Melody added: “The respite allowed us to spend more time with dad for himself, rather than focussing on caring for him.”

But with less than half of its beds open, Bury Hospice’s current issues mean Alan’s family do not know if – or when – the 12-bed £5 million facility will offer further respite.

Last summer, it was revealed the hospice was in the midst of a funding crisis with less than half the beds being used, and swathes of redundancies made.

Precious, Melody and Alan want to raise £36,000 – the cost of a year’s bed and nursing care for a patient with MND or a similar condition at the hospice.

Alan added: “I found the insecurity on the nurses’ part, not knowing what was going to happen on week to the next, absolutely deplorable.”

After contacting Bury South MP Ivan Lewis asking what action could be taken to open more beds, the family have leant their voices to the Save Bury Hospice campaign.

Precious said: “I care for Alan 24/7 but there will be people in the area who do not have that support and in the meantime, the hospice is sitting there half used.

“There is a secret army of carers that nobody takes into account. If we can raise the £36,000, Alan’s illness will not have been in vain.”

Cllr James Frith, who last month launched a plan to save Bury Hospice, said: “Our five-point plan lays out proposals to bring these beds into use so Alan’s family, along with all those in need, get the chance to access Bury’s most cherished resource for the care they most need at the time they most need it.”

To make a donation to the Neal family’s appeal: go to uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/buryhospice