Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy sufferers- 'Thank you NHS' for lifetime help

This July the NHS celebrates its 70th birthday, and leading up to that milestone we're marking the anniversary with a series of reports looking at the National Health Service.

Two men from Sussex and Hampshire who suffer from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy want to say "Thank you" for the treatment and support they've received.

They say without it they wouldn't be here today. And now they're determined to help others suffering with the same disease.

Watch this report by Kerry Swain:

Making plans for the future - three men who expected to be dead by now.

Until recently sufferers of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy rarely lived much beyond their teens. It's a rare genetic muscle wasting condition affecting first legs and arms, then heart and lungs.

But advances in cardiac and respiratory care have improved and sufferers are living longer.

These veterans say they own their lives to the NHS - to make the best of their extra years they've launched the first charity in the world run by adults with Duchenne for others like them.

Jon Hastie from Shoreham-by-Sea in Sussex is 37. He say's he didn't expect to live this long:

Tyran Hawthorn was four when he was diagnosed. Still a teenager when our reporter Kerry Swain first met him. She followed his campaign for more funding for research into a cure since 2005.

He graduated with a first-class degree in photography. Now 31 and still living at home in Clanfield in Hampshire he's virtually paralysed, reliant on a ventilator to breathe and 24 hour care.

The new charity DMD Pathfinders is reaching out to adults with Duchenne across the world via Facebook.

An estimated 650 over 18s with the condition in this country alone.

To raise vital funds Tyran's brothers, father and grandfather are embarking on an epic jurassic-themed car rally.

A very silly mission with a very serious goal.