EXCLUSIVE: England rugby World Cup winner and former national team captain says he now has ‘certainty’ to ‘prioritise clearly what really matters from here’
Stricken Lewis Moody said he felt ‘privileged’ because his motor neurone disease diagnosis had allowed him to focus on life’s ‘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 everything’s uncertain – the diagnosis, the time that you will have, progression speed, what’s going to impact you, what’s 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.
“I’ve 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 I’ve 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 England’s 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.
And ‘People’s 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 it’s 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.
“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 doesn’t sound right but it’s how I feel about it in the sense that I now have real clarity on what and how I’m going to live my life from these days forward.”