Queensland couple donates $40 million to fight MND as Daniher’s legacy inspires at MCG

A Queensland philanthropist couple has donated an astonishing $40 million to support research into curing motor neurone disease, as the football community remembered Neale Daniher in the first Big Freeze match since his death two weeks ago.

Construction magnates Quentin and Kylie Birt made the donation at a FightMND function on Monday. The couple believes in Daniher’s legacy of bringing people together at a time when the world is so divided.

They have previously donated $57 million to a life-changing Central Australian football program. Their donation came as a record crowd of 88,000 attended the annual King’s Birthday Clash between Melbourne and Collingwood, which has become synonymous with Daniher and his fight against MND.

The AFL great died last month, aged 65, after a prolonged battle with the disease he called “the beast” – just a few weeks out from the 12th edition of the Big Freeze, an event he founded to raise funds for MND research.

The day at the football was a celebration of Daniher’s legacy and a chance to carry on his mission and message. In a crowd of bobbing blue beanies, a young boy tugged his dad’s sleeve and asked, “What does MND stand for?”

“Motor neurone disease – it’s a medical condition. It sort of makes your muscles get weaker more and more over time.”

It’s conversations like these that the former Melbourne coach committed the last 13 years of his life to starting, ones that will now have to continue without him.

Speaking to thousands of fans at Federation Square before the annual King’s Birthday clash between Melbourne and Collingwood, FightMND’s lead researcher Bec Sheean reflected on how far things had come.

“I remember telling people I was working on MND in the early days and most people had absolutely no idea what it was,” she recalled. “Today, everyone in Melbourne knows what MND is, and it’s because of Neale, and it’s because of the Big Freeze.”

Also appearing on the stage where their dad and husband once stood were Daniher’s wife and children. Their message was clear – while Neale was gone, the fight had only just begun. Play on.

After a gloomy first week of winter in Melbourne, the sun was out and the sky matched the headwear as a sea of blue beanies streamed towards the MCG on Monday – a vision ex-Demon Russell Robertson, who played under Daniher, described as “one of the great sights in Australian football”.

As the stadium filled, so did the ice bath, a serious-looking crew of workers tearing through about 400 bags of ice in record time.

Inaugural Big Freeze community slider Creswick GP Josh Saunders, was fi