Brave Bearsden widow pens touching tribute to wife after battle with MND

Instead, she spent the last three years of her life helping others by setting up a support group to reach out to over 800 people isolated by the same condition she battled so bravely.

Her husband Alan, from Bearsden, paid tribute to his wonderful wife’s indomitable spirit and told how she fought with strength, courage and resilience as the illness slowly robbed her of her independence.

Liz Ogg (Image: Supplied)

He told the Glasgow Times: “It took around a year to get a diagnosis and we hoped and prayed it wasn’t MND.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and we were told Liz’s illness was progressive. We knew what that meant.

"But despite what she was facing, Liz wasn't the type of person to feel sorry for herself, instead she wanted to do everything she could to help others.

“She set up a Facebook group called MND Together, providing support for people affected by the disease. Liz had folk join from Australia and all over the globe. She loved it and it gave her a focus knowing that she was helping others feel less alone at such a difficult time.

“She was determined to be proactive and her friends even recorded their voices so that the technology she used to communicate would sound familiar. Liz had a fantastic sense of humour and a wonderful way of looking at things. She knew what she was facing but her motto was ‘I will not let MND define me. I will define MND'."

MND is a rapidly progressing terminal illness, which stops signals from the brain from reaching the muscles. This can cause sufferers to lose the ability to walk, talk, eat, drink or breathe unaided.

The average life expectancy is just 18 months from diagnosis but Liz, 69, battled the condition for three years before passing away on November 16 2016.

Author Alan, who had already penned two books, found some solace in the written word and began working on his third novel, ‘The Girl by the Grand Canal – The Four Seasons of Venice’.

Starting in the winter and finishing with the melancholy of autumn, the story captures the changing stages of Alan and Liz’s life together. The chapters offset the often bleak reality of living with MND and caring for someone affected by it.

Alan Ogg (Image: Newsquest)

Alan explained: “At the start of Covid, being on my own already had its challenges, but when the lockdown measures were introduced, I knew it was going to be tough and that I would have to keep myself busy. So to do that I set myself three goals.

“Firstly, I needed to look after my physical and mental health, so I started to exercise every day. Secondly, I wanted to learn Italian, which I’m now fairly fluent in, and finally, I decided to write a book about my wife and our life together and our love of Venice.

The couple first wound up in Venice while hitchhiking around Europe together in the late sixties. As they got older and started a family of their own, they began to take their children with them and ended up visiting the iconic city an astonishing 35 times.

Alan adds: “The book is a love letter to Venice and my dear wife, but it doesn’t avoid talking about what it’s like to live with MND and care for someone living with it.

“I still miss Liz a lot, but by writing I hoped to capture her spirit and personality as a special lie-long partner, mother, sister, friend and teacher. But it was equally important to paint a picture of her incredible courage, as she fought against MND to the very end. I somehow wanted to bring her back to life on the page.

“The joy for me has been hearing people say that they got a real sense of Liz with her wonderfully dark sense of humour, sarcasm and love of life shining through.

“I feel that Liz’s positive personality and attitude are alive in every chapter. I know that she would have wanted the book to give glimmers of hope and hopefully bring some strength to those many people affected by MND. I hope it achieves what she would have wished for."

Julie Macdonald, head of fundraising for MND Scotland, said: “It’s always wonderful to learn about the creative ways that our supporters find to raise funds for MND Scotland. It has been touching to hear how Alan has managed to incorporate the story of his life with Liz and his passion for writing that will allow us to be a helping hand of support for people affected by MND."

To buy the book visit, The Girl by the Grand Canal: The Four Seasons of Venice eBook : Hathaway, Alan P: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store