Former England rugby captain Lewis Moody has described the emotional moment he told his sons about his motor neurone disease (MND) diagnosis, revealing his wife Annie has promised to stay by his side.
Moody, who was diagnosed with the muscle-wasting disease last year after noticing weakness in his shoulder during a gym session, spoke about the difficult conversation on the High Performance podcast with Jake Humphrey.
Heartbreaking conversation with his sons
Moody recalled telling his sons Dylan and Ethan about the diagnosis, saying he decided to speak to them as soon as the family returned home.
He said: “As soon as we found out I said to Annie, ‘I’m going to tell the boys as soon as we get back.’ We talked about it in the car.
“I can't really remember it. It was a bit of a haze as you can imagine.
“I just walked in and sat down with [Dylan] and said, ‘I’ve got something to tell you. It’s not going to be easy to hear.’ That was it. I just told him.
“It’s horrible telling your kids that. Knowing as a parent you’ve brought this disappointment and sadness.”
A visibly emotional Moody added: “Telling your kids is hard. You don’t ever want to feel like that.
“But as soon as you've told them, you can then move forward and we can all start learning a little bit more about the disease.
“It doesn’t mean you’re going to die immediately. We can look into drugs, we can look into trials. Prior to that, you can’t do anything because you don’t know what’s wrong.
“We are just going to have a great time and we are seeking to do that as often as possible. We will laugh. We will live. We will love.”
Wife's promise and positive outlook
Moody also spoke of the support he has received from his wife Annie, who has promised to care for him when he is no longer able to speak or move.
The former British and Irish Lion said: “She said she’d be there no matter what.”
He added: “I choose to live a positive and hopeful life. I just don't see the point in being any other way.
“There's no sitting back and getting miserable. Sitting in my house and 'woe is me'.
“I've never been like that. Life has presented opportunities for me to prove that I can overcome them.”
Refusal to blame rugby
Moody has previously refused to blame rugby for his diagnosis, despite several other players from both rugby codes having been diagnosed with the disease in recent years, including Doddie Weir, Rob Burrow, and fellow former Tiger Ed Slater.
In an interview for the BBC documentary 'How Safe is Rugby?', he told former team-mate Ben Youngs: “I think I was acutely aware of the risks that come with injury and concussion, but I was happy that the reward and the joy of playing the sport far outweighed any of those.
“I enjoyed what I did so much that I was prepared to put up with that, and I would do it again. I loved it… I absolutely loved it.”
