By Andrea Lambrou

Copyright dailyrecord

Ten years after losing her father, a daredevil mum has plunged 10,000 feet from the skies to honour his memory. Fiona Drummond completed a thrilling skydive challenge at Skydive Strathallan in Auchterarder on September 6 and raised over £1000 for a cause close to her heart. Following her dad George’s motor neurone disease (MND) diagnosis, she has continued to support MND Scotland to help other families affected by this heartbreaking disease. George ‘Geordie’ Gilmour, worked as a factory operative across Lanarkshire and Livingston and retired at the age of 60. Fiona described her late father as a proud, colourful character known for his love of racing pigeons, whisky and making others laugh. After experiencing symptoms, George underwent various tests and was diagnosed with MND at the age of 69. Mum-of-two Fiona, 55, a GP practice manager from Airdrie, said: “The symptoms were there, but it was always put down to something else. “There were things he struggled with, like opening bottles, and he kept falling over. He then started slurring his words, but we thought the painkillers he was taking for a bad shoulder were too strong. It was a lot of different things.” Geordie’s MND diagnosis progressed significantly. “He lost strength in his legs and arms,” added Fiona. “He needed a wheelchair to get around, and a hoist to get out of bed. He was eventually unable to hold a cup of coffee on his own and couldn’t feed himself. “We moved his bed downstairs to make it easier for him, and he needed a wheelchair to get around. Carers visited a few times a day. “My dad was very old school and not very technical. He had buttons on his iPad that he could press to let us know what he needed or wanted. His favourite three buttons were ‘coffee’, ‘food’, and ‘whisky’!” Fiona added: “To everyone’s surprise, he only had one hospital admission during his diagnosis, and this was due to a lung infection. It was just a few weeks before he died. We knew that he wanted to be at home.” Geordie sadly died 18 months after his MND diagnosis. Fiona’s mum, Margaret, cared for him daily and stayed by his side until the end. “He never once complained about his situation”, said Fiona. “The MND nurses, district nurses and carers were amazing. Every time they visited him at home, he was always grateful and thanked them”. Fiona has supported MND Scotland for many years. She took part in 2015’s Great Scottish Run in her dad’s memory. To support other people affected by MND, she travelled to Edinburgh with her husband, John, to donate their voices to SpeakUnique, a voice banking technology which allows people to communicate in their own voice when natural speech isn’t possible. Fiona continued: “Once my dad lost the ability to communicate, my husband and I decided that we wanted to help other families by donating our voices. “It’s a process which takes a couple of hours to complete. It didn’t make sense at the time, as you think you are reading something that flows, but you are reading all different words and phrases to capture the different sounds, vowels and expressions in your voice.” Fiona and her father also donated blood before he died to help with MND research. “They explained that they would be looking for a specific type of gene and comparing my blood to someone who had MND to look at the differences”, she explained. Speaking about her knowledge of MND before her father’s diagnosis, Fiona said: “I’d heard of one or two patients through the surgery having MND. When we were told that my dad had motor neurone disease, I asked my work colleagues what it was to help find out more about it.” MND is a rapidly progressing terminal neurological illness, which stops signals from the brain reaching the muscles. This causes muscle weakness and wasting. MND can rob someone of the ability to walk, talk, swallow and breathe. The average life expectancy of someone with MND is just 18 months from diagnosis. There is no cure or meaningful treatments. MND Scotland is the only charity in Scotland dedicated to directly supporting people with MND, their families and friends. Fiona decided to take her fundraising efforts to extreme new heights in support of the charity. “Skydiving has always been on my bucket list”, she said. “You watch people doing it on ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here’, and I thought, ‘I would love to do that’! One night, after a few drinks, my husband called my bluff and put his bank card on the table. The next day, I booked it!” A spokesperson for MND Scotland said: “We would like to thank Fiona for taking part in this incredible challenge and helping raise vital funds and awareness for MND.” You can support Fiona in her fundraising efforts here. *Don’t miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here . And did you know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook ? Head on over and give us a like and share!