My Name'5 DODDIE: The Autobiography

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I wasn’t keen, but was eventually convinced that there were people wanting to know how I was getting on, and for a great many, looking for guidance having found themselves in a similar situation. Hence why the diary came around. While I’ve got a decent memory, there was so much happening that thankfully, Stewart (Weir, and thankfully no relation) had been noting the highs and lows, and I just had to join up the dots. What was the writing and editing process like with this book? There is a part of the book where a rather heated exchange between myself and Stewart (who also helped write the other two books) is detailed. The point that was being made was that while I was happy with my lot, and was just going to get on with things, others needed something – or someone – to champion their fight, or to give them a bit of a steer in terms of where their life was headed. Once I’d got hold of that idea, then it all fell into place. This isn’t a guide on how to live with MND, more a guide on how to have MND and live. How do you hope the book raises awareness of MND and the need for research with not only the MND community, but the wider public? Will there be a fourth book? The answer to that is no. Although as James Bond once said, never say never. For Kathy, “Doddie thinks a lot more than me. He’s always thinking about his next move and I just go along with it. We make jokes and laugh a lot. You’ve got to do that …”

Book release: Doddie Weir’s five year journey with MND Book release: Doddie Weir’s five year journey with MND

It gives Doddie so much more independence,” Kathy says, “and it means I can go outside and he can send a message saying: ‘Can I have a Guinness?’ So I don’t have to be with him constantly. He can also use it to change the channel on the telly or go online. He likes to know what’s going on at the local farmers’ market with the cattle and sheep auction.” But he admits, “It’s a lot harder now. I’ve got a lot slower. I am totally dependent on other people doing everything for me.” Doddie Weir of Scotland on the charge for Scotland in victory over Wales at Murrayfield in the 1995 Five Nations. Photograph: David Rogers/Getty Images Slightly apprehensive. I’ve never been the nervous type. But I still run through in my head if I’ve not mentioned something grand, or forgotten someone who has helped along the way. Sorry in advance, but others are probably to blame. I have a long list of them! Do you have any plans to write a fourth book?Your muscles in your legs disappear, you can’t walk, you can’t eat and then your muscles within your speech disappear, you can’t speak, you can’t swallow, you can’t breathe so it is horrific what happens and eventually you need help everywhere. That’s why it is a big thing for campaigners - all three of us are involved in a very special group who need help. There is no cure. It is a terminal illness. The truth is that I cannot now wash, dress or visit the wee boys’ room without help,” revealed the Scot in an extract published by the Telegraph. And he said: “Anyone out there get involved in sport because you never realise you would need the family. You see the future and think come 60 odd I am going to be fine and that’s what I was doing. Then I woke up one day to find I have got MND so it changes your life. Spend your time dealing with today and worry about tomorrow when it comes.”

Doddie Weir : A complete revelation on the Former Scottish Doddie Weir : A complete revelation on the Former Scottish

Death might stalk him but Doddie suggests that “every day is a learning day. When I was playing rugby and in business [installing septic tanks] I always thought of it as a game of chess. You make a move forward to stay in front. I try and stay in front of MND every day.” Doddie Weir now sometimes uses Eyegaze software to help him communicate, which helps to give him independence at home. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian My good lady has to shower me. She has to give me a shave now and then and do my hair but not in the same sort of way - it could be a Mohican and I couldn’t change it. Kathy rolls her eyes. “He’s got a betting account. But he’s run out of money on it and I refuse to top it up.”

So much of that support has been generated by Doddie as he is now a leading MND campaigner. It is Global MND Awareness Day on Tuesday but is this incurable and terminal disease understood more now? “It is definitely getting better but the government has not given MND the money they promised.” Doddie, who has just 38p left in his betting account, becomes more serious when explaining that he avoids discussing death. “I don’t talk about that because I’m trying not to go there.”

Doddie Weir delivers heartbreaking update on his - Ruck Doddie Weir delivers heartbreaking update on his - Ruck

He said: “She has been on the journey with me. She was there when I got told I had MND. She burst into tears but with the rugby resilience I knew what I had, I knew what the issue was so when he said to me ‘you have got this’ I thought I’ll go and fight this. Then I did the dreaded Google ...then I thought oh oh.”For Kathy, “That’s their mentality as rugby players. So that helped me accept it, too. I thought: ‘There’s not much point crying. We’ll just get on with it.’” They were together on the terrible Friday afternoon of 23 December 2016 when a specialist delivered the shattering diagnosis that Doddie had MND – and predicted that he would be unable to walk within a year. The former player, who had retired in 2004, defied that prognosis for over four years as he showed the galloping determination which, when he first played for Scotland, prompted the great commentator Bill McLaren to call him “a mad giraffe”. Two weeks earlier, on 4 July, he will turn 52. “I think people on the committee [of his foundation] thought I would be long gone by now,” he jokes.

The World According to Doddie: An A-Z of Life and how to Live it

That others have gone public with their diagnosis had brought our plight to a much greater audience. All we can hope for is that those in government buy in to our vision and our battle. What I would say is that where before you might be ignored, it is not that easy today because there are hundreds carrying on our fight for change. If people could take one thing from reading the book, what would it be? Scotland star Doddie Weir playing for the national team in 1991 (Image: SNS Group) Read More Related ArticlesApart from striving to help others less fortunate than him, Doddie tries always to look forward. “It will be our 25th wedding anniversary on 18 July,” he says. “That’s something to celebrate.” Doddie Weir with fellow former international John Jeffrey before Scotland’s 2020 Six Nations match against England at Murrayfield. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images In an extract from his new book, Doddie Weir has written candidly about the fall which sapped his confidence and the reality of his Motor Neurone Disease fight. Gavin Hastings (Scotland): “Consistently outstanding for both Scotland and the Lions. Helped me a lot when the game turned professional.”