Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

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LittleBigG
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by LittleBigG »

Such awful news - it's bad enough when someone gets this at any age, but he's still so young ☹️

Experts are still not sure of the cause, but there is an increasing awareness of it among the population

I'm confident a cure will be found one day, let's hope it is in time to help Ed!
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by baz1664 »

A dreadful illness, absolute awful news!!
Rugbygramps
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by Rugbygramps »

Thanks MCC I had forgotten Joost and Jarrod Cunningham but remembered Rob Burrows.
I know there is a lot of research but something must be amiss with these super fit relatively young men contracting this disease
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by mol2 »

Sadly it's not as rare as we would like it to be.
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by Louis »

This is awful news, and my thoughts go out to Ed and his friends and family.

Rugbygramps asked:
Do we know if there is any correlation between these 2 things or just a tragic coincidence
The answer is yes we know there is a correlation. And we know there is more than correlation, there is causation. Not necessarily for MND specifically, but for neurodegenerative disorders more generally. The lifetime "dose" of collisions is the key variable (concussions are bad, but they "look bad", and so get acted on.) here. It would radically change the sport to remove/significantly reduce these collisions, so I will make no comment on what should be done other than to note this issue.

Repetitive insult to the neurons of the brain by physical (and chemical etc) damage is a precondition for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, etc. Seeing higher incidences of these diseases, especially early onset in otherwise very healthy individuals (especially individuals with good cardiovascular health, rendering vascular complications less likely), is a lot more concerning than the rugby governing bodies and (most of the) rugby press would have you believe.

ETA: I'd have to check the numbers/literature, but IIRC a 3-fold increase in all neurodegenerative diseases has been observed in contact sportspeople. Don't quote me! It's off the top of my head.
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by ads »

Awful news. Cracking player and will always be a Tiger.
Rugbygramps
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by Rugbygramps »

Louis wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 4:42 pm This is awful news, and my thoughts go out to Ed and his friends and family.

Rugbygramps asked:
Do we know if there is any correlation between these 2 things or just a tragic coincidence
The answer is yes we know there is a correlation. And we know there is more than correlation, there is causation. Not necessarily for MND specifically, but for neurodegenerative disorders more generally. The lifetime "dose" of collisions is the key variable (concussions are bad, but they "look bad", and so get acted on.) here. It would radically change the sport to remove/significantly reduce these collisions, so I will make no comment on what should be done other than to note this issue.

Repetitive insult to the neurons of the brain by physical (and chemical etc) damage is a precondition for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, etc. Seeing higher incidences of these diseases, especially early onset in otherwise very healthy individuals (especially individuals with good cardiovascular health, rendering vascular complications less likely), is a lot more concerning than the rugby governing bodies and (most of the) rugby press would have you believe.

ETA: I'd have to check the numbers/literature, but IIRC a 3-fold increase in all neurodegenerative diseases has been observed in contact sportspeople. Don't quote me! It's off the top of my head.
Thank you for this very informative but not very surprising
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by strawclearer »

This is the most awful news and our hearts will go out to Ed, Jo and the family.

I've no scientific or medical knowledge but fellow posters may be interested in this:

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/freque ... ndividuals

My only other thought is that Johnson committed £50m to MND research. According to Doddie, none of that has actually materialised so, before he is rightly consigned to the dustbin of political history, it would be nice if he could find the funds to meet his promise.
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by animalnitrate »

Would be nice if the club could swap the Newcastlw pre-season (as we have them 1st home anyway) for a fund raising match with Worcester.
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by Cagey Tiger »

animalnitrate wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 5:51 pm Would be nice if the club could swap the Newcastlw pre-season (as we have them 1st home anyway) for a fund raising match with Worcester.
I think that you mean Gloucester, not Wuss.
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by Rugbygramps »

Cagey Tiger wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 5:58 pm
animalnitrate wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 5:51 pm Would be nice if the club could swap the Newcastlw pre-season (as we have them 1st home anyway) for a fund raising match with Worcester.
I think that you mean Gloucester, not Wuss.
Thought I was missing something for a minute
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by LekkerTigers »

sk 88 wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 3:45 pm
Rugbygramps wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 3:22 pm Devastating news so sorry for Ed and his young family.

3rd high profile rugby player to be diagnosed with this dreadful disease to my knowledge. Do we know if there is any correlation between these 2 things or just a tragic coincidence
Believe 6th or 7th. Joost, Doddie, Ed, Romanian scrum half Petre Mitu, Tinus Linee from South Africa plus famously Jarrod Cunningham from London Irish.

Expected rate is estimated to be 2 in 100,000 over a lifetime.
It's actually around 2 in 100,000 persons per year. Or somewhere in the region of 1 in 300-500 people over a lifetime.
markharbtiger
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by markharbtiger »

Very sorry to hear this news. Ed was a great servant of the club before he went to Glaws.
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by markharbtiger »

Louis wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 4:42 pm This is awful news, and my thoughts go out to Ed and his friends and family.

Rugbygramps asked:
Do we know if there is any correlation between these 2 things or just a tragic coincidence
The answer is yes we know there is a correlation. And we know there is more than correlation, there is causation. Not necessarily for MND specifically, but for neurodegenerative disorders more generally. The lifetime "dose" of collisions is the key variable (concussions are bad, but they "look bad", and so get acted on.) here. It would radically change the sport to remove/significantly reduce these collisions, so I will make no comment on what should be done other than to note this issue.

Repetitive insult to the neurons of the brain by physical (and chemical etc) damage is a precondition for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, etc. Seeing higher incidences of these diseases, especially early onset in otherwise very healthy individuals (especially individuals with good cardiovascular health, rendering vascular complications less likely), is a lot more concerning than the rugby governing bodies and (most of the) rugby press would have you believe.

ETA: I'd have to check the numbers/literature, but IIRC a 3-fold increase in all neurodegenerative diseases has been observed in contact sportspeople. Don't quote me! It's off the top of my head.
Thanks for this Louis. As a scientist by profession (although not medical), I am alarmed by the causation you mention and what you identify as the key variable.
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Re: Ed Slater diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Post by animalnitrate »

Rugbygramps wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 5:59 pm
Cagey Tiger wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 5:58 pm
animalnitrate wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 5:51 pm Would be nice if the club could swap the Newcastlw pre-season (as we have them 1st home anyway) for a fund raising match with Worcester.
I think that you mean Gloucester, not Wuss.
Thought I was missing something for a minute
Your right....I'm such a idiot
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