5 June 2019, Melbourne, Australia

If you had one wish for someone you cared for, what would it be?

I want to tell you a story. I like telling stories.

I’m a new grandfather, with my new grandson, Cooper. I can’t protect Cooper forever. As much as I love him, my wish for him, is for him is for him to understand a few things.

Life’s good. But life doesn’t promise to be fair. I’d like to tell Cooper, ‘Look mate there’ll be good times, but there will be hard times. There will be mundane times. Life can be tough.’

My wish for Cooper is that he can conduct himself in the face of hardship. Life is difficult Life is tough. And I wish for Cooper, like I wish for you people, and you’ll wish for people you love, you can conduct yourself in the right manner when things get tough.

Because in life, it’s not IF it’ll be tough, it just when, and how often. And when that happens for him, I don’t want him to fold. I don’t want him to be another life victim.

So what is the right way? What is the right way to conduct yourself in difficult times?

The right way is to somehow summon the courage, the moral courage to take responsibility. And sometimes you’ll say, ‘well it wasn’t my fault, I was the victim, it’s not my responsibility, it’s someone else’s’.

Nup.

No matter what happens, it’s up to you to do something about it. Have the courage to accept responsibility, don’t shy away from it, don’t baulk, don’t procrastinate, don’t handball it to someone else.

And by doing that, what will emerge inside you, is the better side of your character. That will allow you to prevail. That will allow you to move through it. And it might even allow you to transcend, and that’s what I hope Cooper learns.

And finally taking responsibility means looking for the opportunity. When life gets difficult, you think it’s a train wreck, there’s no opportunity, there’s always opportunity.

I was diagnosed with a disease that will kill me. No treatment, no cure. No hope, some say. Where’s the opportunity.

I tell ya. If you’re in the blame game. If you’re in woe is for me.

Poor bugger me. You’ll never find it. You’re looking to blame someone.

There’s always opportunity, and my opportunity was to fight MND. And that’s allowed me to prevail. It’s allowed me to find purpose, to transcend, what’s happening to me.

I wish Cooper learns what the right way is. I can’t protect him. He’s gotta take on that responsibility himself. Your attitude in any circumstance … to choose your way, that’s something not only to wish for, but to aspire to.

Thank you.

Donate to Big Freeze 5 and Fight MND here.

12 June 2017, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia

What drives me, and what drives you, comes from within.

And people like me come and go.

And I can tell you now, in a week’s time, you won’t remember a thing I said .

I can’t remember what I said a year ago, or the year before and neither can you.

But, I hope you remember what I do.

People say to me, and I sort of look at them blankly, they say, ‘why do you do what you do? You got a terminal illness, why don’t you tick off your bucket list, enjoy life, you haven’t got long left. Why do you do this?’

‘What keeps you resilient?’

Why do you persevere? Where do you get the resolve from?

And it all comes back to ... I’m really clear on why.

With ‘Fight MND', as you see up there, what drives me, is not about me.

That’s not called the ‘Neale Daniher Foundation’.

That’s called ‘Fight MND’.

It’s about others.

The disease will get me, I know, but why I do it is that two or three people will die today, while I’m talking to you. And two or three will die tomorrow. And two or three died yesterday.

And what drives me is ... it’s curable. This is curable.

I can’t accept that like now there’s no treatment or cure.

And that drives me to go - well what can I do?

Mightn’t help me, but what can I do that might make it better for others.

And I think there’s something in that for you guys too. In football, there is an element of self. To get the best out of yourself. There’s an element of that that’s true for everyone. You want to be the best you can be.

And there’s a continuum, if you’re looking at self. Over there is selfish, and over there is selfless, on that line.

And nothing great can get done with selfish people.

Nothing.

So where do you sit on that? To be great together, you have to be over here. Selfless.

And where that sits with you,. you can say whatever you like, but your teammates know, by what you do.

By what you do.

I’m really clear on what drives me. And with that, being resilient, and handling adversity, and having resolve, becomes second nature.

I know I’ll have setbacks, I know I’ll get worse, and people say, why don’t you tick off the bucket list?

Why don’t you go and just do what you want to do. In a sense, be selfish.

That doesn’t give me any meaning or purpose.

That gives me no drive.

What drives me is, how can I help people?