MND

For all intents and purposes, sportsman Chris Ross looked like a healthy 31-year-old. But a diagnosis of motor neurone disease changed his life forever ...

"While he loses a little bit of his physical self every day to this beast, he is definitely doing his best. It's never easy saying a real goodbye, but I'll be thinking of them when the days get tougher and all the great memories I have from being with them." "That's the thing about life, it's fragile, precious and unpredictable and each day is a gift, not a given right. Your life can change in an instant for no apparent reason and at the end of the day family and friends are all that matter." I have been lucky enough to travel the world, play with some unbelievable players, coach some elite athletes but it's the long-lasting community and friendships you create with people and a club that has made my life meaningful." "He was popular because he cared and was passionate about us getting better. By the end of my first year, I wasn't going too well, I was homesick so I went back to Melbourne for the off-season. Either way it was lucky for me because in the coming weeks I would get scouted to play for a top junior team, Box Hill Inter." Each year we had to nominate athletes to do a leadership program with the police. "This is where I truly fell in love with the performance side of sport. "I sat in the hot tub with Harry O'Brien (now Heretier Lumumba). One time after training, I had Eddie McGuire tell me to make sure I wasn't pissing in 'his' pool. One time we were lucky enough to even have a kick with Adrian Hickmott on the ground.