AUTHOR JK Rowling has donated £10million to set up a Scottish research clinic in a bid to “unravel the mysteries” of multiple sclerosis.
The multi-millionaire creator of Harry Potter made the donation in memory of her mother, Anne, who suffered from the degenerative condition and died in 1990 at the age of 45.
The multi-millionaire creator of Harry Potter made the donation in memory of her mother, Anne, who suffered from the degenerative condition and died in 1990 at the age of 45.
The clinic, to be based at the University of Edinburgh, is expected to be completed within a year.Ms Rowling said she had been looking for a long time for a way to “give something back” to the city where she began writing the best-selling children’s series in cafes. The gift is the biggest donation she has made to a charitable cause, and the largest gift received by the university.Ms Rowling, 45, who is estimated to have a net worth of £650million, said she believed the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic would become a world centre for excellence in its field.It will also focus on other degenerative conditions, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s disease and Motor Neurone Disease.
In a statement released yesterday, the writer said: “It is with great pleasure and pride that I am donating £10million to the Regenerative Neurology Clinic at the University of Edinburgh, which is to be named after my mother, Anne.“I have supported research into the cause and treatment of multiple sclerosis for many years now.“But when I first saw the proposal for this clinic, I knew that I had found a project more exciting, more innovative, and, I believe, more likely to succeed in unravelling the mysteries of MS than any other I had read about or been asked to fund.”
MS is the most common neurological condition in young adults and affects about 10,500 people in Scotland, which has one of the highest rates in the world.It results in damage to the protective sheaths around the nerve fibres of the central nervous system. This leads to messages not being transmitted properly from the brain to the body. It can cause walking difficulties, slurred speech, muscle spasms, pain, fatigue and depression. Ms Rowling was 12 when her mother was diagnosed with MS. They had a very close relationship and it was Anne who encouraged her daughter to read widely. Anne was eventually wheelchair bound and died after a long battle with the condition when her daughter was 25. The author stood down as patron of the MS Society Scotland last year, saying the charity was split by internal rows.
MS is the most common neurological condition in young adults and affects about 10,500 people in Scotland, which has one of the highest rates in the world.It results in damage to the protective sheaths around the nerve fibres of the central nervous system. This leads to messages not being transmitted properly from the brain to the body. It can cause walking difficulties, slurred speech, muscle spasms, pain, fatigue and depression. Ms Rowling was 12 when her mother was diagnosed with MS. They had a very close relationship and it was Anne who encouraged her daughter to read widely. Anne was eventually wheelchair bound and died after a long battle with the condition when her daughter was 25. The author stood down as patron of the MS Society Scotland last year, saying the charity was split by internal rows.
Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea, the university principal, said the “exceptionally generous” gift would help the worldwide effort to improve treatments for MS.The clinic will be based in a purpose-built facility in the University’s Chancellor’s Building, next to the Royal Infirmary at Little France. It follows the setting up of the Centre for Multiple Sclerosis Research at the university three years ago, which also received support from the author.
**Published in "The Scottish Express"
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