I can't do better than the words of Deano himself - 

As some of you are already aware, after months of numerous tests and scans, in July I was diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

This is (obviously) really sh*t and I was in two….no, at least three (if not four) minds as to whether to go public with this but a couple of things made up my mind.

There is still no clear idea as to the cause of this debilitating illness and virtually nothing by means of meaningful treatment. The only thing which can change that is the continued efforts of some remarkable people.

Amongst those is a certain Doddie Weir and his own battle since being diagnosed.

I received a warm and personal email from Doddie. This in itself was a massive boost and I have replied to him confessing that I’d been telling people I was, ‘going to try and face this as per Doddie Weir, just without all the tartan’.

There does seem to be a disproportionate number of sporty people who are affected, including quite a few rugby players. Having got to 54 years of (sort of) maturity as an always very active bloke, the very nature of your body feeling like it’s just shutting down and wasting away is hard to put into words.

Having said that, I’m determined not to just curl up in a corner and am personally so lucky to have the love and support of my gorgeous wife and two ‘kids’ - I was going to say even though they’re now in their early 20’s they never actually grow up, but considering how they’re dealing with this that seems totally unfair - a group of amazing, close friends who just continue to astound me, our local community and the DTRR rugby forum mob who are (perhaps surprisingly!) a massive help too.

I fully realise there are numerous, all very worthy causes out there - however, if you feel inclined and are in a position to make a donation of any sort to the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation it might just help these remarkable people to make a difference moving forward.