Dodie Weir Hails 'Unbelievable' Mind Charity Support From Scotland's Farmers

Doddie Weir has thanked Scotland's farming community for its "unbelievable" support for his My Name5 Doddie campaign to find a cure for Motor Neurone Disease.

The rugby legend and MND campaigner told the OnFARM podcast:

"The farming community have been so supportive; donating sheep, tups, selling off cows, and semen even.  It's been so unbelievable!"

On funding research for an MND cure through the My Name5Doddie Foundation, Doddie told OnFARM:

“There’s been no new drug on the table for 28 years. So, when someone gets MND, they’ve got no chance.”

“This is certainly a fight to try and make a difference, and we will continue until we win the game.”

Doddie says two major drug trials are starting this year thanks to funds raised by MyName5Doddie. These are the first major MND trials to ever to take place in the UK.

OnFARM's Ross Montague recorded a special interview with Doddie at the rugby legend's farm near Lauder in the Borders. The two men are friends and farming neighbours.  

The episode was recorded shortly after Doddie won his Helen Rollason award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in December. 

However, he jokes in the podcast: "Of all the lovely awards I've been receiving, the one I'm most impressed with is my HND in Agriculture.  I had to work for 4 years to get that!

OnFARM are publishing the interview with Doddie as the fifth episode in the series - in tribute to the importance of the number '5' to Doddie's international rugby career and campaigning work. 

Doddie also hailed the importance of running his own Borders farm to helping keep himself fit since his diagnosis.

“I’ll tell you, the farming is a large part of why I’m still here,” he says.

"It keeps me active, takes my mind off my issue, and gets me out in the fresh air". 

Doddie says he is now "striving to keep fit and alert" for his 50th birthday in July, adding "that will be a big pairty!"

Following that, "another big milestone" will be to visit South Africa for the 2021 Lions Tour, retracing his own Lions steps back in 1997.

But "ultimately it's the goal of trying to keep the pressure up on the professors to get a cure for MND - that's my main focus" 

To hear Doddie's OnFARM interview, head to https://www.on-farm.co.uk/, or search "onFARM rural" to subscribe on either Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Launched in January 2020, the OnFARM – Food, agriculture and rural matters – podcast showcases rural enterprise, rural community, rural creativity, rural charity, rural history and much more. New episodes are published once a week with all episodes available via the website.

For information on how to support Doddie's MND campaign - please visit  https://www.myname5doddie.co.uk/