A GRANDFATHER-of-seven is vowing to raise awareness about a condition which has left him unable to speak after presenting a cheque to charity.

Michael Woolf, who turned 63 yesterday (Saturday), spent the majority of his life working in construction, starting off as a teenager building fishing boats in his hometown of Dunbar.

However, his life changed dramatically when he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in December 2016.

His wife Irene said: “We noticed the first symptoms in May 2016.

“Michael started having problems biting his tongue at night and we noticed that his speech started to slur slightly.

“He also had some emotional liability, crying a lot for no reason.

“When Michael started laughing he couldn’t stop – and then I would start laughing and neither of us knew what we were laughing at.

“Then Michael’s voice started to go and that’s when I forced Michael to go to the GP, so I booked the appointment and we went.

“We thought that Michael had maybe suffered a mini-stroke but he came back clear on every test.

“Each time a different test came back clear, I got more and more worried.”

Michael, who also worked on the Falkirk Wheel and as a cleaner at Torness Power Station near Dunbar, was dubbed a “workaholic” by his family.

In addition to his job, he spent his weekends caring for two men in the community for eight years.

Since his diagnosis with MND, Michael’s progression of the disease has been short but rapid.

Now, Michael, who is a father of four, step-father of two, grandfather of seven and step-grandfather of four, has very limited mobility and he relies on a communications aid to speak, although even that can be a struggle.

MND is a rapidly progressing terminal illness, which stops signals from the brain reaching the muscles.

This may cause someone to lose the ability to walk, talk, eat, drink or breathe unaided.

Irene, 62, added: “When they told us that it was MND the reaction was just one of shock.

“Michael felt incredibly sad at first and that turned into anger at what was happening to him.

“Michael had always been an active, seven-days-a-week worker – I used to call him ‘the machine.’

“He always had to be doing something, he couldn’t even sit and watch a film, his brain never stopped.”

Michael is able to communicate using a speech-generating device and Irene added: “I think some people see him in a wheelchair and see that he can’t move or speak and they do think there’s something wrong with his brain.

“We met Michael’s son Jonathan while we were out at the shops. We hadn’t seen him for a while and when he came over he said to me: ‘Can he hear me; can he understand me?’

“I just had to say, there’s nothing wrong with his brain, he’s still as sharp as a tack. I feel like I have to keep telling everybody that because they think it’s affected his brain because he can’t speak.”

Bobby Peters, manager at Hallhill Sports Centre, is a friend of the family and organises an annual charity fundraiser.

The event, which took place last month, featured live music, bouncy castles and more, and raised £2,600 for MND Scotland.

A cheque was presented to Margaret McGrath, of MND Scotland’s Edinburgh branch, earlier this month.

Mr Peters described MND as “a horrible disease” and added: “We have a different charity every year and it all started when footballer Adam Cheetham (who played for Dunbar United) passed away.

“We pick a new charity every year. It has turned into a really good day.”