SCOTTISH rugby legend Doddie Weir will receive a special honour at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards in Aberdeen tomorrow. The former Scotland international, who has motor neurone disease in 2016, will be presented with the Helen Rollason award, which recognises “outstanding achievement in the face of adversity”.
After diagnosis, Weir set up the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation which to date has committed more than £4 million for research into MND. It has also given almost £1m to families living with the disease, to help them live as full a life as possible. Earlier this year he received an OBE for his services to rugby, motor neurone disease (MND) research and the Borders community.
Launching the foundation was Weir’s response to a feeling of frustration at a lack of options for people with MND. He and the foundation regularly engage with leading neuroscientists, professors and medical researchers to better understand MND and work towards finding a cure.
Previous winners of the Helen Rollason award include Hillsborough disaster campaigner Anne Williams and charity marathon runner Ben Smith.
Weir said: “I am honoured and humbled to be receiving the Helen Rollason award.
“My family and I are very much looking forward to attending the awards evening and celebrating another fantastic sporting year with friends and many of our sporting heroes.”
Doddie Weir: One More Try, which follows Weir as he and his family come to terms with his diagnosis, will be shown on BBC One today at 1.15pm.
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