Footballers marching 178-miles for MND

A group of walkers have set off on a 178-mile march (286km) organised by a former professional footballer to raise money to help tackle motor neurone disease (MND).

Marcus Stewart, 52, played professional football for more than 20 years, for teams including Ipswich Town, Huddersfield Town, Bristol Rovers and Bristol City before he was diagnosed with the disease in September 2022.

Stewart, alongside former Liverpool and Bradford City player Stephen Darby, helped organise March of the Day II.

Joined by friends, family, other former players and members of the public, the walk started at Wembley Stadium at 09:00 GMT and will finish at Ipswich's Portman Road stadium on Sunday at 19:00.

Stewart told BBC Breakfast the walk was his way of taking control back from the disease.

"You can't do anything about what it does to your body slowly or quickly and what symptoms you've got," he explained.

"But psychologically you can control that and I think doing stuff like this, I'm in control of my mind and MND is not."

The disease is a rare, degenerative condition which attacks nerves in the brain and spinal cord.

No cure has yet been found.

Stewart and Darby previously spearheaded the first March of the Day walk last year that helped raise £173,000 for Darby Rimmer MND Foundation.

This year's walk, which will also benefit the charity, will be broken down into 44 stages, of about four to five miles each (6.4 - 8km).

Among the guest walkers is Jamie Redknapp, who left Wembley earlier with the walkers.

"Marcus and I go back a long way," he said. "To see him being struck down by this cruel disease, it's incredibly tough.

"But the way that he's handling it with his family, Louise, it's just incredibly brave and a credit to himself."

The walkers will stop by several football clubs on their way to Ipswich, including at Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea FC Women, West Ham, AFC Hornchurch, Chelmsford City, Colchester United and many others.

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