Marcus Stewart: MND diagnosis support overwhelming, says ex-Ipswich striker

Ex-Ipswich Town striker Marcus Stewart said the support he received after finding out he had motor neurone disease (MND) had been "overwhelming".

The 50-year-old, who also played for Bristol Rovers, Huddersfield Town and Sunderland, was diagnosed last year.

He will return to Portman Road as a special guest for the League One clash with Plymouth Argyle at 15:00 GMT.

Stewart said he had "got on" with "living life normally" since finding out he had MND.

He played in all top four tiers in England, with 254 goals in 783 games.

Scoring 19 goals in the Premier League in the 2000-01 season for Ipswich, the club finished fifth and qualified for the Uefa Cup.

The Englishman also played for Exeter and Bristol City, and is now head of player development at Yeovil, another of his former clubs.

He told BBC Radio Suffolk: "I'm in pretty good shape. I considered myself lucky. I've only got problems with my left arm and my grip in my left hand. I can't really pick anything up with it.

"So that's my only symptoms at the moment, along with twitches around my body, mostly in my left and right arm and my torso, but those twitches don't keep me awake at night like some [people with MND]."

MND affects nerves in the brain and the spinal cord and is a degenerative condition, for which there is no cure.

Stewart said it was during a workout he first noticed an issue after he lost grip in his left hand and "couldn't pick up a dumbbell".

He said he "thought something was not quite right" and thought his left hand and arm "looked a bit skinny, like it lost muscle mass".

In September last year, he announced he had be diagnosed with the disease following 12 months of tests.

"The support from all over the country has been overwhelming," he said.

"Once that it was confirmed it was MND, that was a tough week but since then I've just got on with life and living life normally.

"I've got to adapt a bit when it comes to my left hand and my left arm. It's probably about 10% of the strength it used to have."

Stewart has been raising money for the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation, including profits from the sale of his gloves at Ipswich Town.

He said was "quite excited" to return to the club he was at between 2000 and 2002.

The club said George Burley, Stewart's manager during his time at Ipswich, and a number of his former teammates will also be at the game.

Stewart will be interviewed on the pitch at half-time.

He said: "I'm really looking forward to it. I don't know what to expect, I don't how it's going to be, I just hope we [Ipswich] win."

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