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Lewis Moody says motor neurone disease allows him to focus on lifes 'important things'

EXCLUSIVE: England rugby World Cup winner and former national team captain says he now has 'certainty' to 'prioritise clearly what really matters from here'

[Lewis Moody]

Lewis Moody(Image: David Rogers/Getty Images)

Stricken Lewis Moody said he felt 'privileged because his motor neurone disease diagnosis had allowed him to focus on lifes important things for the first real time.

The England rugby World Cup winner, who is cycling 500 miles across Britain to raise funds to find a cure, acknowledged it may sound weird.

But he said the perspective it gives you when you are given the news had allowed him to plan his future.

He told the Daily Star: Suddenly you realise life is uncertain anyway.

The only thing that is certain in it is that everythings uncertain - the diagnosis, the time that you will have, progression speed, whats going to impact you, whats not, what drugs are available, what therapy, everything is uncertain.

Weirdly that news gives you certainty because it allows you to focus on the things that are important in life.

Maybe for the first real time you can prioritise clearly what really matters from here.

In that sense it is a privilege because life is uncertain for all of us.

[Lewis Moody looks on]

Lewis Moody playing for England(Image: Getty Images)

Ive been given the opportunity to have a really clear vision of what I want to do with my time and that is, spend it with the people I love and that is doing the things I love.

And doing it with purpose.

It is a weird way of describing it, I appreciate that.

But it is how Ive felt from day one.

Moody, 47, revealed he has the degenerative nerve condition which causes muscle weakness, stiffness and paralysis six months ago.

Since then he has battled to come to terms with the devastating illness and work out how best to help raise money to find a cure.

In June he will lead a 15-strong team of rugby union superstars, captains and players through a fundraising country-long bike ride from Newcastle to Englands Twickenham home within a week.

Though he has a sense of hope a cure will be found he said he accepts he faces a race against time to benefit from it and had brought forward his marathon cycle so he was confident he would be well enough to take part.

Lewis said he felt proud to take up the baton of the fight against the condition on behalf of so many who have gone before him.

They include Scotland rugby legend George Doddie Weir who died from MND in 2022 aged 52 and whose foundation Lewis is raising cash for.

[GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - NOVEMBER 27: Former Scotland international rugby star Doddie Weir, poses for photographers following receiving an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from Glasgow Caledonian University for his contribution to the sporting community and charitable fundraising on November 27, 2018 in Glasgow, Scotland. The former rugby player announced in 2017 that he had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. He then founded the My Name5 Doddie Foundation which raises funds into research for potential cures for the disease. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)]

The late Doddie Weir receiving an honorary degree from Glasgow Caledonian University for his contribution to sport and charitable fundraising(Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

And Peoples Knight Kevin Sinfield who has run seven ultra-marathons in seven days for the past six years to raise more than 11m to combat the condition since his late Great Britain and Leeds Rhinos team mate Rob Burrows was diagnosed.

Lewis said: Maybe baton is the wrong word - it should be the ball, right? But baton feels like the right analogy.

In some ways I have found it a privilege because its a remarkable space that you enter this MND world - the individuals that have worked so hard for so long in it.

Being a part of this campaign gives me more purpose than anything. It sort of brings a smile to my face.

[England's Assistant Coach Kevin Sinfield during the Quilter Nations Series 2025 rugby international match between England and Fiji]

'People's Knight' Kevin Sinfield(Image: Getty)

Yes, no-one wants to be diagnosed with MND.

No-one wants to be in this position.

But it does give you a strangely privileged position I suppose.

It doesnt sound right but its how I feel about it in the sense that I now have real clarity on what and how Im going to live my life from these days forward.

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