Former Scotland rugby international Doddie Weir says he is motivated by the fight to discover a cure for motor neuron disease [MND] after he was diagnosed with the disease in 2017.
Weir has adopted a positive approach to living with this incurable and terminal condition and emphasises that he feels blessed to still be battling the symptoms after almost two years of living with MND.
But ultimately, he's determined to uncover something that will help other sufferers.
"What keeps you going is the fight to try and get a cure," the 61-time capped international told RTÉ's Sunday Sport ahead of the Ireland v England Rugby Legends match taking place in the RDS on Friday 1 February.
"A lot of people like myself with MND have got a chance and it challenges your options. At the moment there's no options. We need to change that and we need the help of our own to change that.
"That's the fight but at the end of the day I've got to remember I've got a family and spend as much time as I can with them. At the moment, it's a very special time."
Remarking on his own experience with MND, Weir explains that it affects his hands and shoulders, which has forced him do adapt his movements. But he still feels that he's living a full life.
"I can't down a pint anymore and I can't drink a pint with one hand so I've got to use two hands," says Weir, who is also a former Lion player.
"You get on with it and you've just got to show and do things to prove that MND doesn't really stop you doing things.
"I am quite lucky in a lot of ways. Motor neurone disease is a muscle-wasting disease. All your muscles in your legs disappear so you can't walk. You can't eat, clothe or bathe. Eventually in your speech you're swallowing your breathing, your total body shuts down. [It's] horrific.
"The fight really is because there's nothing on the table for people with MND, not one drug. There's one chemo that extends your life by three months but I don't really know does it even do that?"
As part of his quest to find a cure for MND, Weir has also established the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation to help raise funds for research projects surrounding the disease.
The 48-year-old says that the charity has raised over £1 million so far and he's hopeful that a breakthrough in treating the condition. They're focusing on funding clinical trials at the moment as part of all that and Weir says that he draws strength from the work he does with his team.
But he also admits that he feels frustrated and annoyed that there hasn't been more progress in finding a cure for MND.
"The average life expectancy of someone who has been diagnosed is three years," Weir laments.
"I'm two years in and in a way, I'm quite lucky I've been able to take this fight on. It's quite a complicated disease. And also the numbers in Scotland, there's 500 out of five million [people] have MND so there's obviously a financial reason behind it as well why there's not more done.
"There's a lot happened in the last five years, we just need to generate more costs to try and propel more to be done.
"I'm two years in and in a way I'm very fortunate because we get a number of emails do the foundation. One in particular got me on quite an emotional day. He was 38, got diagnosed in September 2017 and died three months later. He had two kids.
"I'm ten years on, my kids are 10 years further on so what do I have to complain with? When you hear stories like that you've just got to go and fight that little bit harder."
All proceeds from the Ireland v England Rugby Legends match will be divided among My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, Rugby Players Ireland Foundation, Restart Rugby, the IRFU Charitable Trust and Irish motor neurone charities
For tickets search #RugbyLegends or visit Ticketmaster.
