Weir’s thanks to industry – and being a farmer helps
Rugby legend and motor neurone disease (MND) campaigner, Doddie Weir has thanked Scotland’s farming community for its “unbelievable” support for his My Name5 Doddie campaign aimed at finding a cure for the debilitating disease.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the recently-launched ONFARM podcast service, he said that the farming community had been unbelievably supportive – donating sheep, tups, selling off cows and even semen straws.
Speaking about funding research for an MND cure through the My Name5doddie Foundation, he told ONFARM: “There’s been no new drug on the table for 28 years. So, when someone gets MND, they’ve got no chance.
“This is certainly a fight to try and make a difference, and we will continue until we win the game.”
Weir said that two major drug trials were due to start this year thanks to funds raised by the Myname5doddie campaign – marking the first major MND trials to ever to take place in the UK.
ONFARM’S Ross Montague, a friend and neighbour of the former Scotland star, recorded a special interview on Weir’s farm near Lauder in the Borders shortly after the player, who made 61 international appearances, won the Helen Rollason award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in December.
However, despite a long list of rewards gathered over the years, the interview reveals which one he places highest value on: “Of all the lovely awards I’ve been receiving, the one I’m most impressed with is my HND in agriculture. I had to work for four years to get that!”
ONFARM are publishing the interview as the fifth episode in the series – in tribute to the importance of the number “5” to Doddie’s international rugby career and campaigning.
The sports star also hailed the importance which running his own Borders farm has played in helping keep himself fit since his diagnosis.
“I’ll tell you, the farming is a large part of why I’m still here,” he says. “It keeps me active, takes my mind off my issue, and gets me out in the fresh air”.
Weir says he is now “striving to keep fit and alert” for his 50th birthday in July, adding “that will be a big pairty!”
Following that, “another big milestone” will be to visit South Africa for the 2021 Lions Tour, retracing his own Lions steps back in 1997.
But “ultimately it’s the goal of trying to keep the pressure up on the professors to get a cure for MND – that’s my main focus”.
The Onfarminterview, can be accessed at https:// www.on-farm.co.uk/, or search “ONFARM rural” to subscribe on either Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Launched inlast month, the ONFARM – Food, agriculture and rural matters – podcast showcases rural enterprise, rural community, rural creativity, rural charity, rural history and much more.
New episodes are published once a week with all episodes available via the website.
● More information on how to support Doddie’s MND campaign is available at https://www.myname5doddie.co.uk/