Before his diagnosis two years ago Patrick was an artist. Now the disease has affected his arms and hands he is finding it harder to paint. However he wants to continue to demonstrate his skill for as long as possible – and use both his work and his story to help create our movement of optimism.
He has set himself a challenge to draw the portraits of 100 incurable optimists. Each person has a story to tell and without question each one is an incurable optimist.
Patrick said: “I’m determined to use what’s left of my life and my diminishing artistic skill to encourage others to do something optimistic every day. MND may be incurable but I am an incurable optimist. I know that through optimism we will find the cure to MND.
“I started this 100 portraits project in the hope that I could show that behind the horrible statistics there are people fighting tooth and claw to stop this disease, people giving up their lives to care for the sufferers and people living with it, with dignity, fortitude and a sense of humour.
"I wanted to do it because these are real people, each with an amazing story of courage and hope for the future. I want to tell their stories and through the telling, inspire more people to help us.
“I’m looking for incurable optimists to paint. If you think you or someone you know is an incurable optimist, nominate that person on my blogsite www.patricktheoptimist.org"
Would you like to share your story and photo on Patrick’s facebook page?
Just tell us why you think they are an incurable optimist and leave your email address, and we’ll get in touch if we like your story.
