AS a close-knit family, we were deeply saddened when a loved family member was diagnosed with the muscle-wasting illness Motor Neurone Disease early in 1999.

As this terminal illness is so rare and uncommon, it is with great regret to have to put into writing that nobody knew how to deal with it.

Resources and special equipment are so limited, it's a crying shame.

Care teams, nurses and local authorities are inexperienced and untrained to care for such a terminally ill person. We are speaking, of course, from our own experience.

Local authorities had never met this severity of this disease before and therefore failed to provide adequate care and attention for both the sick person and their family.

The patient was nursed at home by his own family during the illness but unfortunately the back-up of care provided was nil.

As the family we are, however, consoled by the fact that our loved one was admitted to St John's Hospice a week before he passed away late last year. We can only thank everyone at the hospice for the fantastic work they did. We are consoled by the fact that our family member is at last free from suffering. To say the patient suffered at the hands of such a deteriorating and rapid disease would be an understatement, but as a family we also suffered from the effects of Motor Neurone Disease.

Unfortunately, authorities and care teams across Wirral should be made aware of this disease and what consequences it entails for both family and patient.

MND is becoming slightly more common, and we only hope that more training is given to the carers who are supposed to be looking after the terminally ill patients. We certainly would not want any other family to endure the pain and ignorance that we have experienced for 18 months. Too little was done, too late.

Name and address supplied.