Ex-Huddersfield Town player Marcus Stewart to lead walk for MND research

Former professional footballer Marcus Stewart has spoken about his battle with motor neurone disease (MND) as he prepares for a 175-mile fundraising walk.

The ex-Huddersfield Town player says he is "lucky" to have so far escaped the worst effects of the life-limiting condition since his diagnosis in September 2022.

But the 51-year-old says he has become much "slower".

"I live a good life, but I don't think I live a normal one," he told ITV News ahead of a walk between 17 stadiums to raise money for research.

"I love playing golf, I can't play. I can't do my shoelaces up. I can do my buttons up but it takes ages.

"I can pick things up with my right hand and I can hug things with this (left) arm but I can't pick something up."

During a career spanning 20 years, Stewart scored 58 goals in 133 games for Huddersfield before leaving for Ipswich Town, where he became the Premier League's second top scorer with 19 goals in the 2000-01 season.

He said he first noticed a change in his health when he struggled to use his left arm while exercising during lockdown, prompting a trip to see a neurologist.

"I was as shocked as anyone would be because I didn't expect that to happen, or I didn't expect that [MND diagnosis]," he said.

"That was it really, they gave me a leaflet and off I went. I went on my own because I just said to my wife, I don't need you here really. I can deal with this. Not expecting it to be MND.

"The first week's quite tough because you're thinking about what's happening, you're thinking about doing a will, which is the strangest thing.

"It's then onto how do you tell family members, which was the toughest thing to do."

But he added: "I must have had 2,000 emails, texts, whatsapps and phone calls in the first five days from being diagnosed."

Stewart got in touch with fellow former footballer Stephen Darby, who played nearly 200 games for Bradford City before developing MND.

The pair will be joined by more than 600 walkers on 22 March on their "March of the Day" from Bradford to Bolton, dressed in the blue of Huddersfield.

Visiting 17 stadiums over the next couple of days, the group will then don the red shirts of Darby's boyhood club Liverpool, before finishing at Anfield on 24 March.

He added: "I've got a new set of teammates in the MND community. Rob [Burrow], Kev [Sinfield] and Stephen Darby are up there being captain, manager and leading the way.

"I've got a different set of teammates now. And the old ones are still supporting me, which I love.

"It will be nice for the football community to show their support in some way."

On fellow MND fundraiser Rob Burrow, he said: "We're a bit like Rob's house I suppose. It's a no crying house. Not because we don't want to, but I don't think we have time because we're always organising something.

"I think we're getting closer and closer to a cure or some sort of treatment that's going to extend life by decades, not months."

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