TWO Bishopton brothers are taking on Mount Kilimanjaro in memory of their dad.

Graham, 43, and Derek, 46, Bryce lost their dad, Bill, in July 2015, after a two year battle with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

MND is a terminal illness which stops signals from the brain reaching the muscles. This can cause someone to lose the ability to walk, eat, speak and breathe unaided.

Bill Bryce, who was originally from Greenock and grew up on the Isle of Bute, was diagnosed with MND in September 2013.

Bill, a former director at Doosan Babcock and chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA), did a lot of public speaking in his job and in 2011 he first started to notice issues when he spoke.

However it took two years to find out what was causing his slurred speech.

Graham, who now lives in Langbank, said: “We had both heard of Motor Neurone Disease but didn’t know much about what it was and how it affected people.

“We got lots of really useful information from MND Scotland which was a big help.

“Our dad’s speech was affected first and then he started to lose some use of his hands and arms.

“He used a pointer pen to control a computer, which would read out whatever he was typing.

“He also had a feeding tube inserted which helped him eat when he could no longer swallow.”

When Bill passed away at the age of 74, his two sons decided they wanted to do something to give back to the charity that did so much for their dad, and the whole family.

Graham and Derek will be heading off on October 15 to Tanzania, to attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the world’s highest free-standing mountain, to raise money for MND Scotland.

Derek, who has moved to Banchory, said: “Lots of people have said to us, ‘Your dad would have loved to do Kilimanjaro’, so it’s nice that we can do this in his memory.

“He was a very active man so if we’d done this a few years ago I’m sure he wouldn’t have let us go without him.

“We thought that by taking on a huge challenge like this one, people would be extra generous… and they have been. We originally set our target for £3,000 but quickly exceeded this and have now raised over £4,000.

“We are stunned by people’s generosity and hope we can continue to increase this amount over the next six months.”

Graham added, “MND Scotland does incredible work for those suffering from this devastating illness.

“During those two short years from diagnosis the charity provided the most incredible support to our family.

“They were able to give my dad the communications equipment that helped him stay connected to his friends and family.

“They also came to his house to give him massages through their complementary therapy service, and helped us get a stair lift installed to make his home more accessible.

“When he was diagnosed with MND, Bill also made the brave decision that when he passed away he wanted to donate samples of his brain tissue to help medical research in to the condition.

“Now it’s our turn to give something back."

You can make a donation at justgiving.com/Graham-and-Derek-Bryce.”