Alastair Hignell: 'I've seen so much kindness. There's no point being negative'
England rugby star, county cricketer, BBC journalist: a remarkable life in sport was cut short in May when multiple sclerosis forced Alastair Hignell to give his last radio commentary. But he refuses to be downhearted as Brian Viner finds out in the Independent.
"It is 10 years to the week since Hignell was diagnosed with MS. He remembers the day with devastating clarity. "January 8, 1999. I drove home in a bit of a daze. I was pretty scared, but the old competitive thing kicks in: I'll fight this. Jeannie was away, on a business trip in America, due back on Monday. I didn't phone her, I wanted to tell her in person. I had a bunch of flowers for her. I said, 'I've got something to tell you, I've got multiple sclerosis'. She was fantastic. She said immediately, 'It's not yours, it's ours'."
"Hignell is the least self-pitying of men, yet his eyes brim with tears as he tells me this. So do mine. One would need a heart of stone not to be moved by the spirit with which he and Jeannie deal with their predicament."
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