MND has made me realise just how many people out there care
FORMER TIGER OVERWHELMED BY
TIGERS players are committed to getting behind former club captain Ed Slater following his diagnosis with motor neurone disease (MND).
Slater and a team of cyclists arrived at Mattioli Woods Welford Road this week as part of a three-day 4Ed 350-mile Cycle Challenge, raising money for the family and MND research and treatment.
Among those waiting to greet him were current Tigers Freddie Burns, Ben Youngs, George Martin and coaches Brett Deacon and Kevin Sinfield, as well as former players Mat Tait and Harry Ellis.
Burns told Leicester Tigers TV: “When I heard the news about Ed, someone I played with and was on holiday with a few weeks before, it hits you pretty hard.
“Being someone who is so close and knowing his family, we’ve got to step things up and do what we can, raise money, raise awareness.”
Youngs said: “For Ed to do something like this and for everyone to be here and get behind it, is the most important thing.
“Rugby is a real community. Everyone in the Premiership, the wider rugby community, wants to get behind Ed.”
Former Gloucester and Tigers lock Slater announced his retirement from rugby with immediate effect last month.
The 34-year-old revealed that he had been diagnosed with the devastating degenerative condition that fellow former sports stars Doddie Weir, Rob Burrow and Len Johnrose are also battling.
Fund-raising initiatives were immediately launched, with a JustGiving page yesterday standing at just over £182,000.
Slater and a group of current and former players arrived back at Gloucester’s Kingsholm ground on Wednesday following the 350-mile cycle ride and having raised a further £155,000.
As well as Leicester, the route took in Milton Keynes – Slater’s home town – and Twickenham before heading back to the West Country.
Slater was joined by his brother Andy, close friend Joe Gorman and former Gloucester and Tigers teammates Fraser Balmain, Billy Twelvetrees and Jim Hamilton, as well as Alex Brown, Charlie Sharples and Lewis Ludlow.
About 250 Gloucester supporters, family and friends welcomed them back to the club’s Kingsholm stadium.
Slater said: “I don’t know where to start. I had a little cry coming down Birdlip Hill (seven miles from Kingsholm).
SUPPORT SINCE TRAGIC DIAGNOSIS
“I am just a normal bloke from Milton Keynes who happened to play a bit of rugby, and the way people have supported me since my diagnosis means so much.
“The welcome here is humbling and mind-blowing. I have had incredible support from the club.
“After receiving the diagnosis I was in an extraordinarily dark place, and they (Gloucester) have lifted me out of that.
“I did have a cry when we came into Gloucester because a lot has changed for me since the diagnosis. I’ve had to give up rugby. I’ve had to give up a lot of things.
“A lot of this challenge was about proving I could still do something which was very difficult, and it nearly broke me. I just decided that it (the disease) is out of my control, there is not a lot I can do about it.
“It is not going to go away and it is not going to change, and it is certainly not going to do that if I sit at home and wallow in self-pity. For me, I just need to get on with doing stuff.
“You think you have a small friendship group of five or six people, then you get overwhelmed with messages and you suddenly realise there are a lot of people who care about you.
“I am not going to help anyone by stewing at home – my kids don’t need it, my wife doesn’t need it, I don’t need it – so I am determined to carry on and try to keep that attitude.
“I am in a good head-space, to be honest.”
Slater spent seven years with Tigers from 2010, making 136 appearances including two seasons as club captain in 2014/15 and 2015/16.
He was part of the 2012/13 title-winning Tigers side, coming off the bench in the Twickenham final after 56 minutes to replace Graham Kitchener.
He also captained England to victory over the Crusaders on the 2014 tour to New Zealand and moved from Tigers to Gloucester in 2017.
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