Kevin Sinfield is preparing for his latest MND fundraising challenge and says the news of Lewis Moody’s diagnosis is a stark reminder that the fight to find a cure must continue
Kevin Sinfield admits news of Lewis Moody being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a “stark” reminder of how the fight to find a cure for the cruel disease must never stop.
And no-one has taken the fight to MND quite like the Super League legend. Sinfield will embark on his latest ‘7 in 7 Together’ challenge, starting Monday, which will see him run an ultra marathon every day for a week. This will be Sinfield’s sixth annual challenge in support of MND charities, having raised over £10m up to now.
The former England and Leeds Rhinos star embarked on the challenges after his former team-mate and close friend Rob Burrow was diagnosed with MND. Burrow lost his battle with the cruel disease before he got the chance to see the funds used to build a specialist MND centre in Leeds, which is named after him and opened earlier this month.
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But the sporting world has been left reeling from the recent news that England World Cup winner Moody has MND. Sinfield has spoken to the former England captain numerous times, to offer his support.
And Sinfield insists Moody’s diagnosis provides extra motivation to continue striving for that ultimate goal of a cure. He said: “There are six people who are diagnosed every single day in the UK. So, you think for every Lewis Moody, or Doddie Weir, or Marcus Stewart, I could keep reeling names off, Syd Lawrence.
“There are tens and hundreds and thousands of others across the year.
“So, I think the fact that it’s another high-profile sports person or personality, the fact it’s one of our World Cup winners from 2003, I think it sends shudders down everybody’s spine.
“It is a stark reminder that we’ve got to keep going, all of us together, got to keep fighting. We’ve got to keep trying to raise money, so that people who are a lot smarter than me can find a cure, because, yeah, this can’t continue.
“It has to change. We have to change the landscape for MND families and for those that are going through it.”
Sinfield has vowed to run a seventh challenge in 2026, to honour the fact Burrow wore the No.7 shirt at the Rhinos. And the 45-year-old would then like to take his MND campaigning to Australia, to help raise more awareness Down Under.
He added: “I know there’s a lot of communications between different nations. Certainly with Australia and the NRL, they’re fully aware, a lot of the other guys are fully aware of the work we’ve done over here for Rob.
“When the Rugby League World Cup final was on, Mal Meninga stopped and had a chat with us about what was going on. They’re fully aware of it.
“It’d be great to do something in Australia at some point. Clearly, I’m due to be out there for the Rugby World Cup in two years, and it’d be great to combine forces on something.
“Whether it be a dinner, or a run or something, where we can raise funds for MND in Australia, and be a part of that too.”
