Sad news about one of rugby's best ever scrum halves

[Icy Gull]

I was shocked to stumble across this, my memories of Joost van der Westhuizen are of a scrum half who's darting runs would swing a game. A joy to watch even if he was a Saffer helping dismantle England. Really sad news for a very talented player, still so young.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/23699697

 

[wehatepalace]

Indeed, extremely sad. One of the best scrum halves in the game.

 

[willyfantastic]

that is really sad. MND is one of the worst things i can imagine happening to somebody. my uncle is currently going through the same thing and its really hard to watch

 

[Simster]

Just read that after being alerted to it on Twitter. He seems remarkably chipper and accepting of what is dreadful news. I'm old enough to remember that Lomu tackle and indeed that dummy he fell for.

Sad news.

 

[Monsieur Wabee]

Very sad news.

 

[Jbanged]

This horrible to see, so,Rome who was once a huge player on the field

 

[Bwian]

Mike, a good friend of mine suffered from the same illness and died aged 49, 9 years after receiving the diagnosis.

Awful disease-takes away all of a person's dignity and quality of life in its latter stages.

 

[willyfantastic]

Mike, a good friend of mine suffered from the same illness and died aged 49, 9 years after receiving the diagnosis.

Awful disease-takes away all of a person's dignity and quality of life in its latter stages.

yeh its absolutely awful - and so painful that you know the next time you see them it will only be worse

 

[London Irish]

A London Irish player Jarrod Cunningham also died from this terrible disease, I remember thinking how shocking it was that so little was known about the disease

 

[Brian Fantana]

It's the scariest disease in the world, by an absolute mile.

I remember reading an article recently which drew a link between MND and athletes who play contact sports, i.e. rugby and American football - apparently there is a slightly higher prevalence of the disease amongst that demographic.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Very sad. He was a great pleasure to watch.

I dread to think how hard it is to lose your motor ability, whilst your mind is preserved.

 

[One Love]

Total genius of the game. One of very few players that could consistently win games on his own.

 

[willyfantastic]

thought i would put a bit of a good news story into what is a very sad thread

as previously stated my uncle has suffered from MND for about 5 years (he has the atypical version, meaning it takes longer to attack all the muscles) - but the in last year he has really gone downhill, losing all mobility and speech

to cut a long story short - another member of my family knows PIG personally, and he got wind of the fact my uncle's health was deteriorating, and that he hadn't yet been to the amex since it had been built (he is more of a rugby fan, but grew up in brighton, so they are his football team)

PIG organised for my uncle, his carer, my mum & dad and I to all get players lounge tickets, meaning we were in with the players before & after the game, and got the seats they have for free and made sure we could get the disabled vehicle right up to the ground to drop him off and ensured we got a clean run into the amex - this was a big deal, my uncle cannot move anything but one of his fingers, so he can only haphazardly control his electric wheelchair - so there were potentially a lot of places we could have got unstuck

needless to say, we had a brilliant day out, saw brighton smash blackpool, and the smile never left my uncles face the whole day. the only slightly sour note was the fact that PIG collided with gary taylor fletcher and had to be driven home with a suspected concussion, meaning he couldnt meet us all after the game. but according to the staff member who took him home, all he did was ask if we had had a good time

just shows what an incredible man PIG really is, and also how well the staff work at the amex, especially in regards to looking after somebody who is so severely disabled

i cant remember off the top of my head who the staff member was who took care of the tickets and us on PIG's behalf, but he is a saint

 

[Barrel of Fun]

That is wonderful. What a lovely gesture. I missed your last post the first time around. I hope you are all coping.

The only reason I looked up this thread is because I read that Fernando Ricksen has been diagnosed with MND.

 

[Glawstergull]

Life has a habit of being very unfair. I always had great reservations for our(England's) chances if Joost was in the Springboks side.
Looking at the picture of him with his young son and I can't help but wonder what it must be like for his family seeing him fade.
As a player I always held him in the highest esteem as someone now fighting his fight with such dignity and courage I am in total awe.

 

[Established1982]

Wow, that is terrible.. The guy was an incredible player.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Great story Willy!

A book has just been released over here re his relationship with Amor. He tried to get an injunction against it, but failed. The judge saying that he had lived his life in the public domain and could see no reason to prevent it's publication. Am not convinced that the timing is right - they should just leave him alone now really.

 

[Frutos]

thought i would put a bit of a good news story into what is a very sad thread

as previously stated my uncle has suffered from MND for about 5 years (he has the atypical version, meaning it takes longer to attack all the muscles) - but the in last year he has really gone downhill, losing all mobility and speech

to cut a long story short - another member of my family knows PIG personally, and he got wind of the fact my uncle's health was deteriorating, and that he hadn't yet been to the amex since it had been built (he is more of a rugby fan, but grew up in brighton, so they are his football team)

PIG organised for my uncle, his carer, my mum & dad and I to all get players lounge tickets, meaning we were in with the players before & after the game, and got the seats they have for free and made sure we could get the disabled vehicle right up to the ground to drop him off and ensured we got a clean run into the amex - this was a big deal, my uncle cannot move anything but one of his fingers, so he can only haphazardly control his electric wheelchair - so there were potentially a lot of places we could have got unstuck

needless to say, we had a brilliant day out, saw brighton smash blackpool, and the smile never left my uncles face the whole day. the only slightly sour note was the fact that PIG collided with gary taylor fletcher and had to be driven home with a suspected concussion, meaning he couldnt meet us all after the game. but according to the staff member who took him home, all he did was ask if we had had a good time

just shows what an incredible man PIG really is, and also how well the staff work at the amex, especially in regards to looking after somebody who is so severely disabled

i cant remember off the top of my head who the staff member was who took care of the tickets and us on PIG's behalf, but he is a saint

Stories like that remind me why I love this club - really good to hear.

As for van der Westhuizen, awful news and I agree with KZNSeagull that really he should be left to his privacy now rather than have all this going on with the book.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Stories like that remind me why I love this club - really good to hear.

As for van der Westhuizen, awful news and I agree with KZNSeagull that really he should be left to his privacy now rather than have all this going on with the book.

Agreed.