AFL great and MND campaigner Neale Daniher dies, age 64 | ABC NEWS
Former Australian of the Year, AFL footballer and motor neurone disease (MND) campaigner Neale Daniher has died at the age of 65.
Daniher was diagnosed with MND in 2013, a disease he referred to as “the beast”.
“I call it the beast, mainly because I can personalise it. If I’m going to battle something, I like to give it a name,” he told ABC News Breakfast in 2015.
“It’s a beast of a disease because it’s got a 100% strike rate. Once you’re diagnosed, you will die.”
When he publicly revealed his diagnosis in August 2014, Daniher said the disease wasn’t very well known, but he made it his task to change that, founding the charity Fight MND, which raises money for research.
One of the charity’s signature events is the Big Freeze event, which sees celebrities sent hurtling down a slide into freezing water in the middle of the Victorian winter.
The 2024 event raised more than $20 million for MND research.
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