During his playing career, Edinburgh born Doddie represented the British and Irish Lions on their successful tour to South Africa in 1997 and earned an incredible 61 caps for Scotland. A hugely talented lock forward, he retired from the game in 2004.
In 2016, Doddie was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease (MND) and told he would be in a wheelchair within a year. Since he received the life changing news, he set up the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, which to date has committed more than four million pounds for research into MND.
The Foundation has also given almost £1 million to families living with the disease, to help them live as full a life as possible. Earlier this year he received an OBE for his services to rugby, MND research and the Borders community.
My Name’5 Doddie Foundation was established in response to Doddie’s frustration at the lack of options given to MND sufferers. With this as his driving force, Doddie and his foundation regularly engages with leading neuroscientists, professors and medical researchers to better understand MND and work towards finding a cure.
Doddie Weir OBE said: “I am honoured and humbled to receive the Helen Rollason award at this year’s Sports Personality of the Year, especially when I look back at the remarkable individuals who have been recognised over the years.
“My family and I are very much looking forward to attending the awards evening and celebrating another fantastic sporting year with friends and many of our sporting heroes.”
Director of BBC Sport, Barbara Slater says: “Doddie is an incredible recipient of this year’s Helen Rollason award. To come to terms with his own life changing diagnosis and channel his energy into raising over four million pounds to research the condition and a possible cure is nothing short of extraordinary.”
The Helen Rollason award recognises outstanding achievement in the face of adversity and was introduced to the show in 1999 in memory of BBC Sport journalist and presenter Helen Rollason MBE who lost her battle with cancer during that year, aged 43.
Previous winners of the award include Hillsborough disaster campaigner Anne Williams, charity marathon runner Ben Smith, Bradley Lowery and last year’s winner Billy Monger.
Find out more information about BBC Sports Personality of the Year here.
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