Former England rugby captain Lewis Moody has revealed the first sign of Motor Neurone Disease (MND) he experienced before being diagnosed with the life-changing condition. The former England rugby skipper publicly announced his diagnosis on Monday, taking to social media to issue a heartbreaking statement.
In the announcement, he admitted the news had arrived as a “huge shock” to him and his loved ones, but vowed to “continue to embrace life” while living with the illness. MND is a progressive neurological condition that impacts motor nerves within the brain and spinal cord, causing muscle weakness, stiffness and paralysis. As a result, it can affect a person’s ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe.
The disease typically claims the lives of one-third of sufferers within a year and more than half within two years of diagnosis, according to the MND Association. While treatment can slow its progression, there is currently no cure for the condition.
Early symptoms of MND include weakness and twitching in the muscles, as well as difficulty walking and gripping objects. It was shoulder weakness that Moody – who earned 71 caps for England and claimed the Rugby World Cup in 2003 – first noticed while training in the gym.
In a heartbreaking interview on BBC Breakfast, the Leicester Tigers legend explained that he had started having physiotherapy to address the issue, but when the problem persisted, a series of scans revealed the heartbreaking truth – the nerves in his brain and spinal cord had been damaged by MND.
“I try and keep fit, I try and train a couple of times a week still,” said the 47-year-old, who was accompanied by his wife Annie during the interview. “Otherwise, I get grumpy and Annie gets annoyed with me. I have to make sure I’m letting out the physical frustrations and emotions.
“A couple of months ago, I noticed that I was getting some shoulder weakness. I went and saw our physio and nothing really changed over the course of six to eight weeks. At which point, he referred me to a brilliant shoulder specialist in Bath called Guy Evans.
“I had an MRI, neck scan and all that type of stuff,” he continued. “Very quickly, when the scans came back, it became clear that it wasn’t anything to do with the neck, despite all the years of throwing myself into contact on the rugby pitch.
“He then sent me straight to the neurologist and off the back of the MRI, he actually had a phone call with me where I sensed he was preparing me for the worst, which was quite difficult”.
Despite the diagnosis turning Moody and his family’s world upside down, the former British and Irish Lions flanker confessed that he “feels like nothing’s wrong” with his symptoms currently “very minor”.
Providing an update on his current condition, he said: “You’re given this diagnosis of MND and we’re rightly quite emotional about it, but it’s so strange because I feel like nothing’s wrong.
“I don’t feel ill. I don’t feel unwell. My symptoms are very minor. I have a bit of muscle wasting in the hand and the shoulder. I’m still capable of doing anything and everything. And hopefully that will continue for as long as is possible.”
On facing the full implications of the condition – which has tragically claimed the lives of rugby league star Rob Burrow and former Scotland and Lions star Doddie Weir in recent years – Moody admitted there was “a reluctance” to think about how his future will look.
“There’s something about looking the future in the face and not wanting to really process that at the minute,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t understand where it’s going. We understand that. But there is absolutely a reluctance to look the future in the face for now.”