Matt Gallagher’s MND Campaign
Former Coventry rugby player Matt Gallagher was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in October last year, a complete shock to him, his wife and three children.
Faced with this life-changing situation, Matt decided to do all he could for others with the same diagnosis in the Midlands conurbation and set up a registered charity, The Matt Gallagher Foundation, to help raise awareness of MND and to raise much-needed funds.
“Our Mission is to help MND warriors with grants to help them live more comfortably in their own homes. This may help in fitting wet rooms, funding wheelchairs, helping with travel expenses to hospital appointments or even helping to pay for special days out making memories with their families,” he says.
He points out that in the West Midlands alone, 274 people are battling MND, with only three nurses to help, two of them working part-time.
The rugby family have got behind Matt’s efforts and he says: “Rugby is a huge part of my life and when I had my diagnosis I could have gone one of two ways, I could curl up in a ball or reach out to try to raise awareness. The support I have had across the rugby community means a lot to me, my family and the wider MND family. It has been amazing.
“The generosity has been incredible and so, so humbling for all these legacy events. I’m having various treatments. People probably think I’m mad, but I think I’m going to beat it. That’s the only way I can operate and the way I’ve played rugby. Put a hurdle in front of me and I’ll knock it over and go straight through it.”
On the 5th of May at Birmingham & Solihull RFC they will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Bees beating Wasps in the quarter-final of the Powergen Cup, with a President’s team, including Matt’s son, Jack, taking on Guanos RFC and fundraising for the Matt Gallagher Foundation.
It’s just one of many events; Solihull School hosted a charity rugby match in January in Matt’s honour. In February the Coventry former players’ committee organised the Cow Shed Former Player’s Lunch celebrating the club’s 150th anniversary with eight decades of former players there and Matt’s son, Jack and his friends from Solihull School helping to raise almost £5,000 during the afternoon match against Ampthill.
The Big Sils Day saw Silhillians run a fundraising 3km walk and run at Copt Heath in April, with four fixtures at home. £12,300 was raised throughout the day for Matt’s charity. And for Matt’s birthday weekend, Sheffield Poly rugby mates, who won the National Poly Cup two years running, travelled from around the UK, South Africa, Ghana, and Abu Dhabi to meet up in Sheffield 30 years later and celebrate their friendship, while raising £5,400 for the Foundation, which went to MND nursing in Sheffield.
The foundation’s most recent success was the Matt Gallagher MND Charity Ball on Saturday the 13th of April for over 760 guests, including: Neil Back, Martin Corry, Lewis Moody, Darren Garforth, Geordan Murphy, Dean Richards, Ed Slater, Alex Grove and Matt Hampson, plus many former Coventry players. The night raised a fantastic £218,837, with every penny going towards the local MND community.
