2025 VIC Australian of the Year Neale Daniher AO

Australian Community Media

Meet Your Australians - 2025 VIC Australian of the Year Neale Daniher AO. ACM is proud to be media partner for the 2025 Australian of the Year Awards.

Transcript

00:00Hi, my name is Neil Danaha. I have motor neurone disease. It is a progressive disease that

00:09takes your ability to move, speak, swallow and breathe. I call it a beast of disease

00:15as there is currently no major treatments or cure. When I was diagnosed in 2013 I was

00:23told the lifespan was around three years and there was no hope. I didn't like the sound

00:29of that, so we have set up the Fight M&T Foundation to give those diagnosed in the

00:34future some hope. Neil is an incredible human being. He will do whatever he can to work

00:42through any problem that he comes up against. When Neil was diagnosed he was told to just

00:48tick off his bucket list, but the type of person that he is he decided that he wanted

00:54to do something with the time he had left to try and find a treatment and cure for motor

00:59neurone disease. So ten years on we have 15 clinical trials, we have 600 people that

01:07have had the option to go on trials and we have 30 drug development projects. But we

01:13also have a lot of money now going into research teams and supporting researchers, which when

01:20he was diagnosed there wasn't very much of that around. Our impact has included injecting

01:26over $100 million into medical research in Australia. This has been a real game changer

01:33in the fight against MND as we now fund a small industry of researchers whose aim is

01:38to find treatments. We have brought medical trials to those living with MND in Australia

01:45and we have driven great awareness to the fight. However until we find a cure the fight

01:50will not end. Neil's incredibly passionate about Fight MND.

01:55He wants to see a world where MND no longer is a terminal illness. He's worked incredibly

02:01hard and I know he'll continue for as long as he possibly can, even though life is getting

02:06harder and harder for him. Having no hope is devastating. We wanted to

02:13change that narrative. We want to give those diagnosed hope. Our mission is a world without

02:20MND. Until then we hope the community continues the fight with us.

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