AFL Leaders in Community and Charity Support

[Bbear]

From the small town of Ungarie in Southern NSW came the Daniher brothers, some of the finest blokes who have played our game. Terry, Neale, Chris and Anthony all played for Essendon, Terry being the most famous with 294 games.
Tragedy struck when Neale Daniher was diagnosed with motor neuron disease in 2013 and after the initial shock vowed to campaign for research funding. AFL clubs and supporters have got right behind Neales campaign and raised millions of dollars and today at the MCG is another fundraiser -
The Big Freeze.
Before the game today all 18 coachs will slide into a freezing pool of ice water, amazing !
$30 million dollars raised so far, terrific stuff, read article below.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-06-11/b ... -direction

Big Freeze funds slide in the right direction
Ashley Browne
Jun 11,
NINETY per cent.

That's the figure you need to understand most when it comes to Big Freeze at the MCG and indeed, all fund-raising undertaken by FightMND.

At a time when the final destination for money raised by charitable foundations is rightly in question, FightMND allocates 90 per cent, perhaps even a touch more, to its various 'cure and care' initiatives.

"We're quite excited by that figure," FightMND campaign director Bec Daniher, daughter of former Essendon star and Melbourne coach Neale Daniher, who has been suffering from the disease since 2013, told the AFL Record.

"In the not-for-profit sector that's exceptionally high. If you go over 80 per cent you're doing well so for us to get to 90 is fantastic."

FightMND's sponsors underwrite much of the day-to-day costs. The AFL, for example, provides rent-free accommodation for its executive team at its Docklands headquarters.

>> Watch the coaches hit the MND slide LIVE on the AFL Official App from 2pm AEST

"With events like the Big Freeze, what we aim to do is to recruit enough sponsorship money so that we can assure that the donations coming through go to cure and care because our sponsors take care of the costs of the event" Daniher said.

All up, about $30 million has been raised over the last four years, of which about $23.3 million has been directed towards cure and care initiatives.

There are now four clinical trials running throughout Australia, with Western Australia and South Australia included for the first time.

Seven drug development research projects are also being undertaken and because of the volume of money raised, researchers can spend all year working on them.

"When I first started working at the foundation I found out that the researchers and clinicians spent only three months a year working off grants. Now they get nine months of extra work we can fund," Daniher said.

"My dad has motor neurone disease and I don't want them writing grant papers. I want them to do what they're supposed to be doing, which is hopefully coming up with a cure."

The campaign has also contributed significantly to a drug screening program at the Florey Institute. It is effectively a giant robot that takes skin cells from sufferers, creates their own individual motor neurons and tests different drugs on them, thousands of times over.

"There are so many different forms of the disease," Daniher explained. "What dad has compared to others is unique and what might treat those MND's might be different.

"Instead of a researcher spending an entire day testing a couple of drugs, this robot can do 4000. It's a world first for motor neurone disease and is very exciting when Australia can put up its hand to be a world first in anything."

[Bbear]

Nothing to argue about here !

[AFLcrap1]

Oh dear

[Terry]

Nothing to argue about here !

Correct...no argument from anyone. Neale Daniher is a brave man doing a great job. All power to him!!!!

[SportCapital]

Hats off everyone!

To all those who donated,
To all the organisers,
To Neale himself for putting himself on the front line of the fight.
To the coaches for having the humility and of course the AFL.
Without whom none of this would be possible and hopefully one day be known as the football league that cured MND.

What a great day that'll be.