October 10, 2025 • 4 mins
Motor neurone disease is a devasting condition that’s recently come to prominence in the media with the diagnosis of former English rugby captain Lewis Moody. Another famous person who suffered from the condition was Stephen Hawkins.
What is motor neurone disease?
- It’s a progressive nerve disease.
- It damages and kills nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain that control muscle movement in the body.
- The damaged nerve cells mean the brain can no longer signal muscles in the body.
- Muscles slowly lose the ability to function.
Why does it occur?
- The exact cause is not fully understood.
- It’s thought that up to 10% of cases are inherited and related to a patient’s genes, while 90% are random with no clear genetic cause.
- Several things may be important:
- Abnormal accumulation protein in the nerve cells, destroying them.
- A possible inflammatory or immune system malfunction.
- Possible environmental factors like exposure to heavy metals or pesticides, however there’s no clear evidence.
What are the symptoms?
- It's difficult to diagnose initially with subtle changes: clumsiness in hands, slurred speech, tiredness.
- As time goes on, the main issue is weakness in the arms, legs, and hands – the person gradually losing the ability to use them.
- Speech and swallowing become difficult.
- Breathing problems as the muscles around lungs weaken.
- There can be mood swings.
Can it be treated?
- Unfortunately, it is incurable.
- On average, patients live 2 to 5 years.
- Stephen Hawkins was an example of someone who actually lived with it for much longer – he was diagnosed at age 22 and lived to 76, which is very unusual.
- There are some experimental drugs that may slow progression that are being looked at.
- However, most treatment is supportive – trying to improve the person’s quality of life.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks that Be.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
What's Really Sad and Scary news. Former England rugby captain
Lewis Moody has been diagnosed with motor neuron disease. So
he's just forty seven years old. But we wanted a
bit more information about MND and so doctor Brian Betty
is here with us this morning. Cal to Brian, oh
Kiral Jack, what actually is motor neuron disease.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
It's what we call a neurological disorder. So it's a
progressive nerve disease. So basically what hammered happens. It damages
and kills nerve cells, especially in the spinal cord and
the brain, that control muscle movement in the body. So
in effect, what happens is the nerve cells are damaged
and the brain can no longer connect or send signals
(00:54):
through to the muscles in the body, and the muscles
slowly lose the ability to function. So it's a devastating
disease and with with with lots and lots of implications
when it occurs.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, why does it occur?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Well, look, it's one of those things very familiar to
us in medicine that the exact cause is not fully understood.
So it's thought to be up to ten percent of
maybe genetic related and that is the person's genes or
family history drive it, but ninety percent are thought to
be random with really no clear genetic cause. Now we
(01:29):
think there are several things that could be important. One
is an abnormal accumulation approacheing in the nerve cells, which
destroy them. There's possibly an inflammatory response that is the
immune system malfunction where the immune system turns on itself
and destroys the nerve cells. The other thing that's been
(01:49):
wondered about is whether there's environmental factors. So there's been
some linkage to things like heavy metals and pesticides, but
again there's no real clear evidence that that's in fact
the case. So not well understood.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
And even for Lewis Moody, I mean, my immediate reaction
was as this as a result of being in a
in a really physical contact sport for a long time.
But even that evidence seemed to be mixed at the moment,
so that you can't sort of directly draw line necessarily
just on that.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yet, Yeah, it would be very very hard to draw
a direct line with that to this condition. So yeah, no, no, yeah,
very very poorly understood.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Well what are the symptoms.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Well, the problem is that initially it is incredibly difficult
to diagnose because there are very very subtle changes that occur.
So this may be a slight clumsiness in the hands,
slurred speech, or fatigue or tiredness, so that those are
pretty nondescript. But as time goes on, the main issue
that tends to develop is weakness in the arms and
(02:48):
legs and hands, and you gradually lose your ability to
use them. Now, speech and swallowing can become very very difficult,
so speech, the power of speech, you start to lose that,
and in particular breathing problems as the muscles around the
lungs weaken, and that can lead to increased lung infections.
You moon is things like that which can be very
very difficult. The other thing is mood swings, so depression
(03:12):
and can become a pronounced feature of it as well.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, which is which is understandable. I mean, I mean
many of us will associate mode of neuron disease with
Stephen Hawking, but Kenny treated it all.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Unfortunately, it's incurable. So once a diagnosis has made there
isn't any real treatments available. Stephen Hawkins was actually very,
very unusual. So he was diagnosed at the age of
twenty two, but he actually died at the age of
seventy six. Because the average time from diagnosis to death
is two to five years. Wow, So Stephen Hawkins was
(03:45):
incredibly unusual in terms of what happened and again not
not understood. It was thought to be just a slower
variant of the disease. There are some experimental drugs that
medical science is playing around with, but again there's nothing
really that's been landed on at this point. So most
of the treatment tends to be supportive that, you know,
(04:06):
trying to improve the quality of life. And I think
Stephen Hawkins he had motorized wheelchair, he was able to
communicate through a through a language translator and things. So
again it's it's it's quality of life that becomes a
critical thing as time goes on.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, oh man, it's just such sad news about Lewis Moody.
But thank you very much for that. We really appreciate
your time and expertise. As always, Doctor Brian Betty with
us This Morning.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks' b from nine Am, saturday or follow
the podcast On iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks that Be.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
What's Really Sad and Scary news. Former England rugby captain
Lewis Moody has been diagnosed with motor neuron disease. So
he's just forty seven years old. But we wanted a
bit more information about MND and so doctor Brian Betty
is here with us this morning. Cal to Brian, oh
Kiral Jack, what actually is motor neuron disease.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
It's what we call a neurological disorder. So it's a
progressive nerve disease. So basically what hammered happens. It damages
and kills nerve cells, especially in the spinal cord and
the brain, that control muscle movement in the body. So
in effect, what happens is the nerve cells are damaged
and the brain can no longer connect or send signals
(00:54):
through to the muscles in the body, and the muscles
slowly lose the ability to function. So it's a devastating
disease and with with with lots and lots of implications
when it occurs.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, why does it occur?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Well, look, it's one of those things very familiar to
us in medicine that the exact cause is not fully understood.
So it's thought to be up to ten percent of
maybe genetic related and that is the person's genes or
family history drive it, but ninety percent are thought to
be random with really no clear genetic cause. Now we
(01:29):
think there are several things that could be important. One
is an abnormal accumulation approacheing in the nerve cells, which
destroy them. There's possibly an inflammatory response that is the
immune system malfunction where the immune system turns on itself
and destroys the nerve cells. The other thing that's been
(01:49):
wondered about is whether there's environmental factors. So there's been
some linkage to things like heavy metals and pesticides, but
again there's no real clear evidence that that's in fact
the case. So not well understood.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
And even for Lewis Moody, I mean, my immediate reaction
was as this as a result of being in a
in a really physical contact sport for a long time.
But even that evidence seemed to be mixed at the moment,
so that you can't sort of directly draw line necessarily
just on that.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yet, Yeah, it would be very very hard to draw
a direct line with that to this condition. So yeah, no, no, yeah,
very very poorly understood.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Well what are the symptoms.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Well, the problem is that initially it is incredibly difficult
to diagnose because there are very very subtle changes that occur.
So this may be a slight clumsiness in the hands,
slurred speech, or fatigue or tiredness, so that those are
pretty nondescript. But as time goes on, the main issue
that tends to develop is weakness in the arms and
(02:48):
legs and hands, and you gradually lose your ability to
use them. Now, speech and swallowing can become very very difficult,
so speech, the power of speech, you start to lose that,
and in particular breathing problems as the muscles around the
lungs weaken, and that can lead to increased lung infections.
You moon is things like that which can be very
very difficult. The other thing is mood swings, so depression
(03:12):
and can become a pronounced feature of it as well.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, which is which is understandable. I mean, I mean
many of us will associate mode of neuron disease with
Stephen Hawking, but Kenny treated it all.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Unfortunately, it's incurable. So once a diagnosis has made there
isn't any real treatments available. Stephen Hawkins was actually very,
very unusual. So he was diagnosed at the age of
twenty two, but he actually died at the age of
seventy six. Because the average time from diagnosis to death
is two to five years. Wow, So Stephen Hawkins was
(03:45):
incredibly unusual in terms of what happened and again not
not understood. It was thought to be just a slower
variant of the disease. There are some experimental drugs that
medical science is playing around with, but again there's nothing
really that's been landed on at this point. So most
of the treatment tends to be supportive that, you know,
(04:06):
trying to improve the quality of life. And I think
Stephen Hawkins he had motorized wheelchair, he was able to
communicate through a through a language translator and things. So
again it's it's it's quality of life that becomes a
critical thing as time goes on.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, oh man, it's just such sad news about Lewis Moody.
But thank you very much for that. We really appreciate
your time and expertise. As always, Doctor Brian Betty with
us This Morning.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks' b from nine Am, saturday or follow
the podcast On iHeartRadio
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