The daughter of a former rugby player described as a “Jack the lad” has described her experience of losing her father to motor neurone disease.
Lee Brennan was diagnosed when he was just 44 and within two weeks he wasted away from being a rugby player with a strong body to “skin and bones”.
His symptoms started with slurred speech and then developed into being unable to pick up his head.
Eventually, Lee lost control of his whole body, apart from his eyes.
Despite his diagnosis he retained his sense of humour until the day he died.
Daughter Abbie, 19, said she was a “daddy’s girl” growing up and he would always “wind her up and make her laugh”.
She told Hull Live: “My dad was a Jack the Lad character in every friendship group he was in.
"After he died, so many people sent me funny videos and pictures of him on nights out. He was a real people person and everyone misses him so much.
"I'd never heard of MND when my dad was diagnosed in 2018, he went to the doctors because his speech was slurred but that could have been from anything.
"It was only from the second round of tests that the doctors realised what it was, because he could no longer lift his head up.
“His condition deteriorated really quickly and only two weeks after seeing him, he went from being a rugby player with quite a big build to being just skin and bone."
Eight months after the shock diagnosis, Abbie and her younger brother Harrison were devastated to lose their dad in July 2019.
She added: "Even without the ability to talk, he still found ways to wind me up and have a joke with the monitor.
“Whereas most people would have key phrases on their screen to say things like 'can I have a drink?' or 'can I go to the toilet?', my dad had a phrase to say 'Abbie p*** off'.
"The thing is with motor neurone disease, the person's mind is fine, just not their body. It was difficult because I was speaking to him like he was a robot, because that's what he sounded like, but it was still my dad inside and he never gave up being who he was."
Four years on, Abbie is now telling Lee's story to raise awareness of the condition, as a way to honour his memory.
Next month, she will take part in a sponsored skydive over Bridlington, with the hope of raising £500 for MND Scotland.
She said: "I don't have a fear of heights, so I'm not too scared, but my mum did ask why I didn't want to do a bake sale instead.
“I have a bit of an Instagram following so I thought the best way to attract donations and spread awareness was to do something a bit shocking."
