Irish Examiner View: Doddie Weir's thoughtfulness will live forever

The Scotland rugby star dedicated himself to educating people about motor neurone disease.

Doddie Weir: Died after a six-year fight against motor neurone disease.

When the late Colette Murphy from Bishopstown, Cork, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in late 2020 it was, she and her family knew, a death sentence.

When her phone rang some months later from an unknown number in the UK, she answered anyway. A voice said: “Hello Colette, my name is Doddie Weir and I’m suffering from MND as well.” 

Colette died in August 2021, and last Saturday, Doddie Weir passed away also after a six-year fight against this most awful and tragic disease, but his thoughtfulness will live forever in the hearts of the Murphy family.

And they are not alone, because from the moment he was diagnosed with MND back in 2016, Weir dedicated himself to educating people about the disease and funding research into it. As a Scottish rugby international who also played for the British and Irish Lions, he had the profile to do so.

Just two weeks ago at Murrayfield, he delivered the match ball prior to Scotland’s international against the All Blacks and received a rousing reception from the crowd both as a Scottish rugby legend and an MND ambassador.

His work involved not just fundraising and education but as a source of comfort and succour to people such as Colette Murphy and her family. That role was every bit as important to him as everything else. That’s why his loss is so widely felt and his passing so sadly mourned. 

May he rest in peace.