The Scottish March of the Day has a core team that all have their different motivations for taking part. Many of them share their reasons for taking part here. 

Over 7 years ago I was given the devastating news I was dreading… I was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease with a prognosis of 2 to 5 years to live.

Not long after that diagnosis I received a phone call from a number I didn’t recognise. When I answered the call it was Scottish Rugby legend Doddie Weir on the other end to ask how I was getting on. This gave me a huge boost at a very difficult time.

Doddie’s positivity inspired me massively. I realised I still had a life to live and decided that I would not accept the prognosis given to me. I would fight MND every step of the way to hopefully see my kids grow up.

Since that day, we as a family along with many friends, have raised some much needed awareness and over £83,000 for MND charities.

I am honoured to be involved with the Scottish March of the Day due to my footballing background. And although I will be only able to walk a few hundred yards of the route. I am so grateful to my four former football teammates who have agreed to complete the full route on my behalf along with the rest of the walkers who are giving so much of their time and effort to support the MND community.

Thank you everyone.

After 18 months of hospital appointments, my Dad was alone in a room with a consultant when he was told he had Motor Neurone Disease (MND). MND is a life-shortening illness that can affect how you walk, talk, eat, drink, breathe, think and behave. For as long as I am fit and healthy I will bang the drum for my Dad and every single person impacted by MND.

My family was totally blindsided by Dad’s diagnosis – we had no idea what to expect and we all hoped his would be slow progressing. Sadly only 20 months after his diagnosis, the brutal nature of MND had taken its toll on my dad who I can’t remember ever being ill before MND. My Dad had deteriorated so much faster than expected, he’d lost a lot of weight, and his lung capacity was seriously compromised when he was rushed into hospital. After two rollercoaster weeks it was clear he was never going to come home. I held my Dad’s hand as he took his very last breath on the evening of 20th April 2018.

Thanks to the wonderful Rob Burrow, Doddie Weir, Marcus Stewart, Stephen Darby (the list goes on) using their profiles and platforms to bravely share their own experiences of living with MND there is a lot more awareness than when my Dad was diagnosed and it is heartwarming for me to see so many people taking on epic challenges to raise vital funding for MND charities.

I will continue to support the MND community any way I can, in my dad’s memory and for all of the warriors I have met or am still to meet. My why over the years has just kept getting bigger. In 2022, my close friend Nicola called me to say her husband Paul had been told he had MND. She knows I will be beside her throughout this journey and will support their beautiful family any way I can.

This is such a caring community to be part of and I will keep saying yes to the challenges coming my way. I am very proud to be part of the Darby Rimmer Team as one of the core team of walkers for the Scottish March of the Day. Together we can help to change the dial on this horrendous and cruel disease and hopefully the prognosis will be a more positive one for families like mine.

Having first met Martin through football in 2001 and playing on and off with him until 2012 I got to know him well, obviously when the MND diagnosis came in 2018 I was devastated for him and his family. Martin’s tireless campaign to get support and make people aware of MND has been an inspiration to me and in the years since I have been more than happy to take part in various activities to raise funds and awareness. My motivation has been further heightened by the togetherness of the MND family that I have experienced due to being part of Scottish March of the Day and as part of the core team can’t wait to get started and hopefully raise more awareness of MND and crucially raise funds that will hopefully one day find a cure.

In 2023 I left my job of 36 years in the NHS to become full time carer for my brother Gary who had brain cancer. We had both always been big Ipswich Town fans and Marcus Stewart was our favourite modern era player. It was literally the day after Gary’s funeral that I saw March of the Day advertised on Facebook. I was rather lost and no longer knew what my role in life could possibly be, but decided to register to support Marcus after his diagnosis and maybe even get the opportunity to say hello to him! I had lost a friend to MND in 2017 so also wanted to walk in her memory and raise some funds. Being Gary’s carer for 2 and a half years had affected my health and mobility and I doubted whether I would even manage to walk a single stage – but I did it. Four months later I was honoured to walk with Marcus in Bristol on ‘Stewart’s Sports Tour’ and the rest is history! Scottish March of the Day is my fifth walk for the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation and I was very honoured to be asked to join the core team this time round. On each walk I have met people who are living with MND or family members walking in memory of a loved one, so I will be thinking of all those people. I am proud to be walking for each of them whilst raising awareness and funding – and each stage I walk will be dedicated to one of those I have met. They will be my focus and inspiration to get through it.

We will all keep walking and banging that drum until a cure is found!

Continuing the fight to find a cure for MND and the team banging the Drum

From knowing nothing about this cruel disease to being asked to be Patron of the Darby Rimmer MND foundation by my mate Darbs…

I am so proud to stand with everyone who has being and still is effected by MND and

I truly believe that the Darby Rimmer Foundation WILL find the breakthrough!!

A TRULY INSPIRING GROUP OF AMAZING PEOPLE and non other than my why, my mate Darbs x

For me, it’s about people I admire. I was lucky enough to spend nearly 10 years working at Leeds Rhinos. The team and winning times gave us so many amazing memories. But it was there that I saw the courage of Rob, Lindsay and the kids as they faced MND. His courage and outlook has left a lasting impression on me.

On a personal level, Marcus is my cousins close friend. Growing up, I thought he was the coolest — not just for what he achieved on the pitch, but because of the way he was off the pitch, to be a Premier League star and still stay a top bloke. To now see him fighting this cruel disease makes it my personal battle also.

That’s why I’ll keep running, walking, fundraising and drum banging, come rain or shine.

I don’t know any of the guys who are suffering from this dreadful disease but as a former sportsman I know what’s it like to be part of a team. This team, the MND community, need help & I couldn’t be more pleased or willing to do what I can to help find a cure & offer any kind of support, not just to those who have the disease, but also to the families who do so much for their loved ones.

Taking part in the “Scottish March of the Day” in support of the MND Community is a cause that truly resonates with me, and supporting their work has become a genuine passion. What makes it even more profound is witnessing the incredible sense of community and family spirit it consistently generates. I am immensely proud to be part of an effort where individuals come together, united by empathy and a shared purpose, creating a powerful network of support and determination. This collective spirit, often born from personal experience, is a testament to the human heart and fuels the essential work of the foundation in their fight against Motor Neurone Disease.

My friend was diagnosed with MND over 7 years ago, I’m proud to be involved with this event and hope to raise awareness of the impact this disease has on sufferers and their families and to support research into finding a cure for MND

Having met Stephen six years back , I was taken with the stoicism and optimism he had about the MND fight ahead. I was only too glad to be part of this great combined effort between Darby Rimmer and My Name Is Doddie to raise awareness and funds to help combat this disease.

What a privilege to be part of the support team again for the first ‘Scottish March of the Day’. I’m always full of admiration for the walkers in these challenges…their determination, camaraderie and resilience is so inspiring. It’s really important to me to play my part in the support team, encouraging and guiding everyone through the full event, knowing that together we can create significant change in the lives of those suffering with MND and their families. So looking forward to it, I’ll be the one with the huge box of chocolate & sweets 😊

Proud to be part of a great team supporting Scottish March of the Day and helping raising awareness and funding for MND.

As the RunMND motto says

#NoFinishLineUntilThereIsACureForMND

Since Darbs was diagnosed with MND he has been an inspiration. Anything I can do to help raise money to support research and awareness for everyone affected!

For me, it goes back more than a decade, when I first got to know Mike and Woody through the Walking for Holly team when I worked for the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice. After that day, I helped Mike and Woody when I could, whether that was supporting walkers cross the Pennines from Huddersfield to Oldham over night for Owen Brien, or chipping in here and there when asked.

But in 2019, Mike rang me and asked if I could help with Steps 4 Stephen. Five minutes into the conversation and I was in 💪.

I’ll be honest at the time, MND wasn’t on my radar. Thinking back I’d seen Doddie Weir speak about his diagnosis, and that was the first time I’d really heard the disease spoken about so openly. But being part of Steps 4 Stephen, meeting Stephen and his family at Valley Parade as he launched the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation that’s when things changed for me. I told Stephen and Mike there and then, if there was anything I could do to help, just ask.

And that’s exactly what happened. By the end of Steps 4 Stephen, walking into Anfield with David Cope amongst a special band of people who’d trekked from Bradford to Bolton to Liverpool (taking the long way round thanks to Mike and Woody’s “map reading skills” 😂), I knew I was part of something bigger. Something that mattered.

On this SMOTD journey, I’ll be thinking of *Sue Rumbold* 🙏. I first met Sue as a trustee of Martin House Children’s Hospice and later we shared a Strictly dance floor, over the 3 month training I got to see moments that showed her spirit. Sue gave her life to helping others, a true champion of children’s services, collaboration, and community. She believed deeply in *#StrongerTogether* and SMOTD is exactly that in action.

That’s why I keep walking. Why I keep raising funds for the *MND community*. Because this is about more than miles, it’s about research, about hope, about finding a cure. So that in the future, people who follow the likes of Sue Rumbold, Stephen Darby, Chris Rimmer, Rob Burrow, Doddie Weir and the many others you and I know personally won’t have their lives slowly stripped away.

MND, we see you now. And with an army of scientists, warriors, fundraisers, families, and friends we’re coming for you. We won’t stop. Not until you’re no more.

*M* arching o *N* to *D* efeat *MND*

I am proud to be supporting Scottish March of the Day for MND because the fight against this cruel disease is very close to my heart. During my time on the medical staff at Rochdale FC, I had the privilege of meeting Darbs and becoming close friends with him and Stephy. His diagnosis came as a huge shock, but the way he has faced it—with courage, positivity, and determination—has been nothing short of inspiring. Like so many others, I often felt helpless as a friend, but I made a vow to do what I can to raise awareness and funds to support those battling MND and to help push towards a cure.

As an avid Ipswich Town fan and someone who has had the honour of working as a therapist for the club, the news of Marcus Stewart’s diagnosis was another tough blow. Marcus is an Ipswich legend, and seeing him and Louise throw their energy behind the Darby Rimmer Foundation has only strengthened my resolve to play my part.

Supporting this walk gives me the chance to stand alongside them, to bang the drum, and to contribute to a cause that desperately needs our attention. This is about friendship, community, and hope—and I’m proud to walk on behalf of them all. This team is unbreakable and will not stop..!! X