One of my absolute favourite players of all time. Utterly tragic and so hard for him and his family to know what’s coming.
Life is unfair - he deserves a better end than this.
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2025 7:25 am
by Danno
And at 47. He's not far ahead of me. Just horrible.
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2025 7:50 am
by Mr Mwenda
So sad. Poor bugger.
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2025 7:53 am
by FKAS
Horrible news to wake up to. Can only imagine what he's going through at the minute.
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2025 8:03 am
by Galfon
Sad to hear. His UC condition in his prime probably prevented him being Eng greatest ever, and now this at reatively young age.
Wishing him the best support and journey from here.
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2025 8:05 am
by Oakboy
I lost a close friend to this evil disease. It's a terrible way to go. Poor chap.
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2025 8:08 am
by Which Tyler
bloody hell.
Good luck in your fight Lewis
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2025 9:18 am
by fivepointer
Grim news. Wishing him well.
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2025 9:59 am
by twitchy
Very sad times.
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2025 11:33 am
by paddy no 11
That's desperate news, poor man
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2025 1:27 pm
by Mikey Brown
Horrible news. He was a real icon.
The Lions in 05 was one my first memories of getting properly in to rugby, and in a desperate losing cause he was still relentless. Amazing to watch the way he threw himself about.
I was on a packed train when I read that bit about him telling his kids and I’ll say I’m glad I had my sunglasses on to hide welling up.
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2025 10:27 pm
by jngf
Just seen his interview on 10 o’clock news - utter respect!
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2025 9:18 am
by paddy no 11
Real worry is as we push into pro era that these are once a month stories if not worse
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2025 10:10 am
by Which Tyler
Worth noting that Joost and Doddie both played plenty in the pro era.
Incidence is about 1 in 300 of the general population - This year, with 10 teams, there are approximately 400 senior players in the Prem. Between Prem, URC and T14, you'd expect 5 current players to suffer MND at some point in their life, through sheer population stat.s (a full house at Leicester would see 80-90 of the crowd to suffer MND at some point in their life).
At this moment in time, it looks like there's a correlation with elite (cardio) sport, unconfirmed as to being causative, or mechanism of causation - theoretically something to do with prolonged/repeated oxygen depletion of motor neurons at extremes of exertion?
AFAIK there's no correlation with boxers and MND - obviously, elite athletes, though not so much cardio; and significantly more traumatic brain injury.
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2025 11:12 am
by Mellsblue
Yep. Everything I’ve read says that it’s linked to high/elite levels of fitness rather than impacts, concussions, violent contact etc etc
Plus the life lottery that is your genes.
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2025 4:09 pm
by Danno
Gawd, that stat of 1 in 300 of the general population is pretty terrifying
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2025 4:23 pm
by morepork
Which Tyler wrote: ↑Tue Oct 07, 2025 10:10 am
Worth noting that Joost and Doddie both played plenty in the pro era.
Incidence is about 1 in 300 of the general population - This year, with 10 teams, there are approximately 400 senior players in the Prem. Between Prem, URC and T14, you'd expect 5 current players to suffer MND at some point in their life, through sheer population stat.s (a full house at Leicester would see 80-90 of the crowd to suffer MND at some point in their life).
At this moment in time, it looks like there's a correlation with elite (cardio) sport, unconfirmed as to being causative, or mechanism of causation - theoretically something to do with prolonged/repeated oxygen depletion of motor neurons at extremes of exertion?
AFAIK there's no correlation with boxers and MND - obviously, elite athletes, though not so much cardio; and significantly more traumatic brain injury.
This is absolutely right. Motor neurons have the largest axons in the central nervous system and are acutely susceptible to interruption of metabolic energy as they are unable to store energy or efficiently metabolize fatty acids. Nothing but admiration for the guy in fronting up. That takes balls and helps awareness tremendously. Known genetic risk factors are rare but there are a few approved drugs that can target some of those. 47 is too young. Godspeed you mad blonde machine.
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2025 7:11 am
by Danno
Ha, Mad Blonde Machine is an excellent characterisation.
It's weird reading all the encomiums that're being written, cause they all read like eulogies. Hopefully he'll go into this without that in his head - MND is a bitch of a disease, but it can be fought - Joost van der Westhuizen was given 2-5 years to live after a late diagnosis and ended up going for 9 whole years, and that was 14 years of medical research ago. With luck, new treatments will continue to come out and we'll get to enjoy his presence for longer than we fear.
It's weird reading all the encomiums that're being written, cause they all read like eulogies. Hopefully he'll go into this without that in his head - MND is a bitch of a disease, but it can be fought - Joost van der Westhuizen was given 2-5 years to live after a late diagnosis and ended up going for 9 whole years, and that was 14 years of medical research ago. With luck, new treatments will continue to come out and we'll get to enjoy his presence for longer than we fear.
Puja
Yeah I thought that looking back at my own words “he was an icon” could be read as him being gone already. It’s a tough one.
Whatever the situation, “Moodos” as a nickname is absolutely not on.
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2025 1:27 pm
by Which Tyler
Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Wed Oct 08, 2025 1:13 pmWhatever the situation, “Moodos” as a nickname is absolutely not on.
Especially when there's an existing "Mad Dog" to use
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2025 4:40 pm
by twitchy
I couldn't remember the exact details, but I remembered him fighting samoans.
Re: Lewis Moody
Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2025 8:38 pm
by paddy no 11
Which Tyler wrote: ↑Tue Oct 07, 2025 10:10 am
Worth noting that Joost and Doddie both played plenty in the pro era.
Incidence is about 1 in 300 of the general population - This year, with 10 teams, there are approximately 400 senior players in the Prem. Between Prem, URC and T14, you'd expect 5 current players to suffer MND at some point in their life, through sheer population stat.s (a full house at Leicester would see 80-90 of the crowd to suffer MND at some point in their life).
At this moment in time, it looks like there's a correlation with elite (cardio) sport, unconfirmed as to being causative, or mechanism of causation - theoretically something to do with prolonged/repeated oxygen depletion of motor neurons at extremes of exertion?
AFAIK there's no correlation with boxers and MND - obviously, elite athletes, though not so much cardio; and significantly more traumatic brain injury.