FORMER Melbourne coach and Essendon star Neale Daniher has launched a passionate plea to entire the football community and beyond to help support this year’s ‘Big Freeze 2’.

The event will be held on Monday, before Melbourne’s annual Queen’s Birthday clash against Collingwood at the MCG, to raise funds to help find treatment and a cure for motor neurone disease.

Daniher, who was diagnosed with MND in 2013, said the disease kills two Australians each day, with another two or three diagnosed every day.

“MND is a killer. We call it ‘The Beast’ because of the way it takes your body and slowly sucks the life out of you. There’s no treatment for it, no cure and it’s woefully underfunded with research. With the ‘Freeze Army’ and with people out there helping to raise support, we’re trying to raise more funds to find a treatment and find a cure,” he said. 

“The funds raised last year allowed us to double the research efforts. Over the last 12 months, there’s been some really outstanding research done where we’ve been trying to find a treatment. They’ve found a compound that can treat MND in mice, so we’ve got to transfer that to a tablet and get it to work in people but there’s some real hope.

“It wouldn’t have happened without the funding that everyone has done to support the cause but [to use] a boxing analogy with ‘The Beast’; we won’t be able to knock it out [straight away] so we’ll have to go the full 15 rounds. Last year was Round 1.

“[We’ve got the] big beast in one corner and we’re over here in the other – we’ve got the Freeze Army and we hope that they come back again and support us, otherwise I’m in trouble. Support us again this year, [because] the support was great last year and we hope that people come back and support the cause again this year.”

Daniher thanked the sponsors for getting behind the event, after last year’s successful ‘Big Freeze at the ‘G’.

“I want to mention our sponsors, AHG and New Balance, who have been great supporters of the cause, as have CrownBet. What they’ve been able to do, is ensure that every cent donated goes to research,” he said.

“Our sponsors pay for all of our expenses like the slide, the ice and that ensures that every donation goes to finding a treatment.

“We’re really proud that 100 percent of the donations are used for what we say they’ll be used for and we wouldn’t be able to do that without AHG, New Balance and CrownBet.”

Although Daniher said it was “a miserable disease and quite grim to talk about”, he added that it was important to find some relief.

“Within all of that, we want to have fun. Sufferers like myself want to have fun. While we might not have much time left, we want to have a good time and the ice-dunking is all about raising money, having some fun and enjoying life,” he said.

“We’ve got a long list of celebrities who have been terrific. Channel 7 and Channel 9 have all got behind it, the Melbourne Football Club has been great and the people out there have been terrific. It’s only round two [though]; we’ll get this beast, we’ll get them on points but there will be 15 rounds before we knock it out.

“We’ve got new personalities this year. The inaugural team was fantastic and we’ve now got another bunch of celebrities and we’ll announce them in the lead-up to the big icing. They’re fantastic with what they do, but what’s important are the individuals, you out there getting behind the cause.

“The beanies are a way for people to show their support and wear a blue beanie on the day. Come along to the AHG Walk to the ‘G, whack your beanie on and it’s a great way to support the cause.”