Doddie Weir: ‘The government has not given motor neurone disease the money it promised’

“I’m still here, I’m still fighting,” says Doddie Weir even though motor neurone disease traps him inside his paralysed body. Courage and hope define Weir but he is being tested as never before. The former Scotland lock, who won 61 Test caps and played for the Lions on their triumphant tour of South Africa in 1997, was diagnosed with MND just before Christmas in 2016. He has now reached a brutal stage of deterioration.

Weir once gave a talk and asked his audience to sit on their hands. Everyone was then given a glass of water. To take even a sip they had to ask someone else to lift the glass to their mouths. When people eventually asked if they could free their hands Weir, with a trademark grin, would not give them permission.

It was the simplest insight he could offer into how it feels when you cannot scratch your nose and you cannot feed or wash yourself or go to the toilet without help. Even swallowing and talking become difficult. This frightening paralysis has robbed Weir of so much but his intelligence burns as brightly as ever.

He and his remarkable wife, Kathy, still swap quips laced with black humour. Weir also retains the campaigning zeal which has seen his foundation – My Name’5 Doddie – raise £8m in the battle against MND while he challenges doctors to increase the intensity of their research.

But he admits, “It’s a lot harder now. I’ve got a lot slower. I am totally dependent on other people doing everything for me.”

His speech is now badly affected by the disease and I sometimes have to ask him to repeat himself or Kathy explains what he has just said. But the clarity of his thinking is unimpaired. “It’s frustrating not being able to do everything I enjoy,” Weir continues. “That’s difficult – and it’s even