Nova 100’s Jase, Lauren & Clint checked in with Bec Daniher this morning ahead of this year’s Big Freeze. Bec spoke of the incredible support her family has received since her father, Neale Daniher, lost his long battle with MND. Planning for the event was part of the final conversation she had with Neale before he died.
Clint Stanaway: How was it yesterday getting up in front of all those Melbourne and Collingwood players and knowing full well that the Fight MND family is going to come together on Monday under such special circumstances?
Bec: Yeah, it was special. It was really hard. That’s always been Dad’s moment, you know…. it’s something that I looked forward to, because I loved hearing what he had to say. He could just weave a story. So to stand there in his stead, it was really hard, and yeah, it was the last conversation I had with him. He was excited about it, and with sort of working through how we could make it as easy as possible for him. So, I think there was just a lot of emotions, I just wanted to get through it and do him justice, but to see both clubs come together, you don’t see that often. It was really special, and I know it’s gearing up to be an incredible Monday.
Lauren Phillips: How are you going?
Bec: It’s a roller coaster, I guess. You know, we always knew that the chapter would close off at some point. It just, it was still such a shock for it to unfold. He was going well until he wasn’t, so we weren’t expecting this to happen. You know, you can have that dark humour come out every now and again. We say he’s the ultimate showman, goes out with a bang, at the biggest time of the year for him. But it’s a lot to process, and to do it sort of within the public eyes, is something a little bit different. But the outpouring of support has just been incredible. I don’t think I understood the impact that Dad had. I don’t think I could ever have conceived it, because it’s just been absolutely beautiful to hear the stories.
Jase Hawkins: We were saying the other day, there’s not many people back that would have brought the country together like your dad did.
Bec: Yeah, and I don’t think we understood. I definitely didn’t understand it. And then you just sort of see it play out, and it’s just been really beautiful, and it’s been lovely to hear the stories. I don’t think you always get that opportunity to hear the stories about, you know, the impact that your dad’s had on this person, and that. So to take this sort of last week, week and a half, and almost have this reflection of what he’s done, it’s been really beautiful. At the same time, it’s been incredibly challenging.
Jase, Lauren & Clint can be heard from 6am to 9am on Nova 100 in Melbourne or stream the show live and catch up with the daily podcast by downloading the Nova Player.