A Cruel Death Sentence

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At the start of the week it was reported that Lewis Moody the ex England Rugby player had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) which is an incurable disease. Over a short period of time your muscles wither away which results in not being able to use your limbs and eventually your body shuts down. MND is known as the 1000 day disease as that is the average time frame from diagnosis to death.

Sadly I know so much about this disease as this is what my mother has and why I am flying regularly to see her. There is no getting better with this and this is all down hill which is not very pleasant and is rather grim. The more you do by trying to stay active the quicker the disease takes hold so you are literally screwed from all sides.

Lewis started off with not being able to raise his arm properly and like my mother who loved walking struggled to lift her leg. This is the start of your body shutting down and this is so cruel not only on the individual, but the family members who live every moment.

I first heard about this disease when ex South African rugby player Joost Van Der Westhuizen was diagnosed. Watching through the press how he suffered was an eye opener that you would not wish this disease on your worst enemy. The next person I knew was Scottish rugby player Doddy Weir who I had the privilege of playing with when he came out to South Africa and joined my rugby team as part of his pre season conditioning and training. He was a big man and to see how he ended up shows it can happen to anyone of us.

The only people I knew at the time who had suffered from MND were sportsmen who played contact sports like Rugby and Rugby League. Rugby officials are quick to say there is no connection and I am not convinced knowing the head trauma that players experience through their careers. When my mother was first diagnosed it was a shock as MND has never been in our family bloodline. The obvious thoughts initially were down to the Covid jabs as my mother had most of them which she now regrets and blames for her demise. I am on the fence with this and believe anything is possible and trust very little these days.

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The scary part about this is the number of MND cases since 1990 have risen by 74% and is no longer as rare as it once was. Growing up I knew of no one or heard of no one suffering from this condition with cancer being the big scary one. The health people say it is down to an ageing population with people living far longer today so the numbers have risen. When I see the stat of 1 in 300 will suffer from this I find this alarmingly high knowing the suffering involved over an average 1000 day time frame.

I have watched my mother go from being able to walk around a supermarket with the use of a shopping trolley to being wheel chair bound within 6 months. The loss of the arms soon follows which is then followed by the voice box as the disease moves up your body until it shuts down completely. With my mother the voice is slowly going and why these UK trips have taken on a new urgency as hearing your mothers voice for the last time is not something you can miss out on. She has had an artificial voice pre programmed like Stephen Hawkins had in her voice already set up, but shit that is not the same thing. I will continue to travel as often as possible because you know deep down time is limited.

If you were going to get any type of disease then it would be anything, but this as I cannot think of anything worse.

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