For more than 10 years he has bravely battled a debilitating condition for which there is there is no known cure.
But in 2022 former footballer Mark Taylor saw motor neurone disease (MND), which turned his own life upside down, thrust into the spotlight following the high profile campaigning of rugby stars and Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield, and the death of Doddie Weir.
And in the same year the Government pledged to release £50m in funding for MND research in the hope that new treatments and eventually a cure can be found for MND, a condition in which the brain and nerves progressively degenerate.
Any future breakthroughs in the fight against the cruel disease will come too late for former semi-professional footballer Mark, who was diagnosed in 2010 just months after winning the FA Vase with Whitley Bay FC.
But today as he looks ahead to a milestone year in his own life and the fight against the disease that has dominated it, Mark has told how he would still love to see an MND cure discovered, even tough it couldn't help him.
The 39-year-old said: "I am fully aware that the developments of treatments will be too late for me but I don’t care. If it’s possible to find a cure or treatment so people in the future don’t have to go through what I have I would love to see it.
"In July it will be my 40th birthday, a milestone I would have thought impossible in 2010 when I was diagnosed, so I am looking forward to that and what the rest of the year will bring. Hopefully a trophy for Newcastle United!"
Mark, from Whitley Bay, seemed to have the world at his feet before his life was changed forever by MND.
In the spring of 2009, he became a local sporting hero as part of Whitley Bay FC’s FA Vase winning side.
As well as realising his boyhood dream of playing and winning at Wembley to lift non-league football’s most prestigious prize with his hometown team, the sports mad PE teacher also had a job he loved.
But the dream final was to be Mark’s last game.
In October 2008, he had begun to notice the symptoms which he now knows to be the first signs of MND.
The diagnosis was eventually confirmed in January 2010.
Mark was initially told he probably had just three years to live.
But he has defied the odds to still be here 13 years later. He still works at Kenton School, in Newcastle, and has even written a book about his life with MND.
Mark’s positivity in the face of such serious illness has made him a local hero to many.
And in 2022 he watched on as MND sufferer and former rugby star Rob Burrows continued to inspire the country with his brave fight, while friend and former team-mate raised money and awareness.
Burrows, 40, and Sinfield, 42 were both honoured with gongs at last month's BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards.
And it was an emotional moment for Mark as he watched the ceremony.
"I think MND has been highlighted a lot more in the last few years. It all started back in 2014 with the ice bucket challenge then after the high profile diagnosis of Doddie Weir and Rob Burrow most people know what the condition is now, unlike 10 years ago," he said.
"The Doddie Foundation and the efforts of Kevin Sinfield raising so much money in events which have been covered by the media on a national level has made people in the public much more aware of the disease and how it effects people.
"I watched this year' s BBC Sports Personality of the Year when Rob and Kevin deservedly received their awards. I found it very difficult to watch the video on Rob as it was exactly the same as I was like ten years ago.
"When Rob was diagnosed I sent him a copy of my book as thought he would be interested and appreciate it. I was very surprised and grateful that he took the time to email me thanking me for the gesture. No one can really understand what it’s like to hear that you have the disease so we need to stick together and support each other however we can."
In November former Newcastle Falcons player Doddie Weir, who helped raise million of pounds for MND research, died of the condition five years after his diagnosis.
Mark, who lives in Monkseaton, said: "Obviously when you hear the news of people passing away who have MND it makes you think about your own mortality," he said. "I made the decision to have a Tracheostomy, which is prolonging my life compared to Doddie. It is an impossible decision for someone to have to make as it has left me living a life severely disabled and pretty much on a ventilator 24\7. I just felt that I could still live a relatively productive and good quality of life."
Following Doddie's death, Health Secretary Steve Barclay announced he would be “fast-tracking” the £50m of funding already pledged for MND research after the Government faced criticism for failing to release the promised money.
"Funding for research into the disease has been virtually non existent for years so the input is very welcome and needed," said Mark. "I don’t think that there are many major diseases that they don’t know why people get it especially the sporadic type I have. There’s also no real cure or treatment so there is a desperate need for further research.
"As far as I am aware they have created a treatment for the genetically inherited type of MND, which only effects two per cent of people diagnosed. It is progress in the right direction as a result of fundraising. This is why funding is essential to progress knowledge of the disease."
Mark admits that staying positive is hard, but he is still thankful for 2022 and is looking forward to the year ahead.
"2022 has certainly been better than the last two years," he said. "After Covid, I was in lockdown for virtually 18 months. I have been able to go to work and feel like I am positively contributing again. I’ve been able to do a lot more with family and friends, it's so good to reconnect with people.
"It does require a hell of a lot of mental strength to remain in a positive mindset. I have had periods of depression but I still am working full time at Kenton and have amazing family and friends that are so supportive of me. That keeps me going."
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