Below you can read stories either written by our Patron, Alastair, or written about him.

As England ended the 2007 Rugby World Cup in Paris in defeat, sports commentator Alastair Hignell breathed a sigh of relief - and not at the result.

He was bone-tired after a gruelling series of matches.

A former England rugby player himself - as well as a first-class cricketer - he knew his body well enough to know it was time to quit.

Despite his diagnosis with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1999, he had flourished in his second career as a commentator.

But now the disease had progressed so far he could no longer do the job justice.

However, far from being bitter about his fate, Alastair says he feels "blessed" to have experienced the world from such radically different perspectives.

"I was finding it increasingly difficult to build up the energy needed to do the job and not fall apart doing it," he says.

Tipping point

"The World Cup in 2007 was a fantastic event, but the last two weeks were hard.

"I was in France, but I just spent my time either going to matches and press conferences, or lying on my back on my bed.

"That was the tipping point and then England went to South Africa that summer.

"I came to the conclusion that I could not give the job the justification it needed or myself.

"I was taking so much out of myself it was hard to live a good normal life outside of it.

"One of the things with MS is the incredible fatigue.

"I found I was not approaching my job as well as I wanted to, or as it deserved to be done. I was looking at things like going to a stadium not in terms of 'Great, I have a fantastic commentary to do on a match', but more, 'How difficult is it going to be physically for me to get up there?'"

So Alastair took medical retirement, bowing out the same day as former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio quit playing the game - 31 May 2008.

Alastair, who played rugby for Bristol and cricket for Gloucestershire, still writes a weekly newspaper column on sport, but said that apart from that he was happy to take an armchair view.

Diagnosis shock

He now uses a mobility scooter to get around. "I can't walk very far and I can't do stairs. I could walk to the end of the street but beyond that I would struggle - I'd probably fall or trip," he says.

"I'm resigned to a scooter to get me about and do everyday things, like attending physio, which is about one mile away.

"I go once or twice a week at the moment but I just wouldn't be able to go without the scooter.

"When I was diagnosed and told I had an incurable disease and one that was going to be progressive and debilitating it was a huge huge shock to the system.

"I have only had two experiences of people with MS; one was my cousin who had been diagnosed with it seven years before and had not actually had any other symptoms.

"And on the other hand the wife of a friend of mine had died with it.

"She had a galloping form of MS which had taken her from active to wheelchair, to bed, to bedridden and then she died from influenza because her system could not cope with the problem.

"These were the two extremes and I was rather hoping I had the first rather than the second, but was sent scurrying to the internet to discover everything I could."

Alastair had an MRI scan, eye test and lumbar puncture before being told he had the secondary progressive form of the disease - which gets gradually worse.

Before diagnosis Alastair, now 54, said his doctors had been baffled by a series of seemingly unconnected symptoms of headaches, drop foot, bladder problems, pins and needles and extreme fatigue.

He said his competitive nature had both helped and hindered his disease progression.

"The competitive nature of being a sportsman had me saying 'I am going to take this on', but of course that leads to frustration," he said.

"Thinking you can beat something incurable, progressive and debilitating obviously leads to a lot of anger when you can't beat it.

"You have to learn to go with the flow of it, to cope with it and manage it - to learn, as we say in the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre, 'I have MS, but MS does not have me'."

Treatment options

Alastair has tried a variety of treatments including the drug beta interferon, hyperbaric treatment (as used by deep-sea divers to counteract the bends), reflexology and physiotherapy.

"I set aside a Monday for treatments every week as a way of recharging my energy levels," he said.

"I would not wish MS on anyone but I would wish the side effect - that you get exposed to people's kindness and generosity.

"You are made aware of the love that there is in the world.

"I feel blessed to have MS, which seems a funny thing to say about a disabling progressive and incurable disease.

"But it has sent me on a journey I would never have had otherwise, and I think that it has enabled me to find out how good, loving and generous people are in general."

Source: BBC News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2009 (15/11/09)

Photo: Johnny Green/PA Wire

MSRC Patron Alastair Hignell was made CBE  (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to sport and charity on the honours list in June and received his medal from the Queen on Tuesday, 20th October.

Alastair is a former England rugby player and batsman for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.

After retiring he became a respected journalist, covering rugby for BBC Radio.

In 1999, when he was in his early 40s, he was diagnosed with MS and now pours much of his time into his work as patron of the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre.

Speaking about meeting the Queen, Alastair said, "I was absolutely nervous, as nervous as I've been for any cricket or rugby match I've ever played, as nervous as for any commentary,".

Commenting on Alastair's award, Helen Yates, Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre Chief Executive said, "MSRC are delighted that our Patron, Alastair Hignell, should be honoured in this way. We cannot think of a more fitting person to receive this honour. Alastair campaigns tirelessly on behalf of people affected by MS and has spent a great deal of time and energy fundraising for the MS community. He is a superb ambassador for MSRC as well as being a thoughtful and caring man."

Former sports commentator Alastair Hignell has been appointed CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

The 54-year-old, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999, has been recognised for his services to sport and for his charity work.

The former teacher, who is based in Stroud, campaigns for the raising of awareness of his condition.

Hignell worked for the BBC for 17 years and for 5 Live for 12, covering every major rugby union event.

MSRC is delighted to announce that the charity has been chosen as the Official Charity Partner for the Heineken Cup Final between the Leicester Tigers and Leinster on 23rd May at Murrayfield.

As part of the day we will be allowed to do a bucket collection around the ground and we NEED YOUR HELP.  Do you live in the Edinburgh area?  Would you be able to help MSRC on the day for a couple of hours?  We will pay basic travel expenses and provide you with a Team MSRC T Shirt.

If you are able to help, please email info@msrc.co.uk as soon as possible. 

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
By Brian Viner

A fittingly momentous rugby match provided the backdrop for Alastair Hignell's valedictory radio commentary for the BBC last May: the Premiership final at Twickenham between Wasps and Leicester.

And the Rugby Football Union did the right thing by a popular broadcaster who in the 1970s won 14 England caps at full-back – and played cricket for Gloucestershire, scoring one of his 11 first-class centuries against the touring West Indians – but had been forced into retirement, aged only 52, by secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. The RFU laid on a post-match reception so that "Higgy" could say a professional farewell to his many friends.

The only problem was that the room was located between the stadium's first and second floors, inaccessible by lift. Yet Hignell can barely manage stairs these days. So everyone who wanted to say goodbye to him could get there without difficulty, but he couldn't. "I don't want to knock the RFU," he says, "and the last thing I want to be is Mr Angry Disabled, but it showed the basic problem in the provision of facilities for the disabled, and that's lack of imagination. The goodwill is there, but the joined-up thinking sometimes isn't."

His erstwhile employers were guilty of just such a lapse at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards eight years ago, forgetting to install a ramp so that Tanni Grey-Thompson, who finished third, could get on to the stage in her wheelchair. There was no such oversight at the Sports Personality awards last month as Hignell, leaning heavily on a stick, made his way up a blessedly shallow incline to receive the Helen Rollason prize for courage in the face of adversity, and made a speech so dignified and eloquent that, for this observer at least, it upstaged the thunderous ovation given to Sir Bobby Charlton as the highlight of the show.

I arrive at Hignell's home in Stroud on the day that he and his wife Jeannie finally take delivery of the BBC trophy, which is still in its cardboard box waiting to be unpacked. In some ways it is the unlikeliest of all the baubles won by one of the most talented all-round sportsmen of his generation, yet its arrival could hardly be better timed, for 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. "It's very low-maintenance," he says when I remark on the Japanese-style garden outside their ultra-modern home. "For you it is, it's actually quite hard work for me," she tells him, eyes twinkling. They have a private little chuckle together.

Even now, though, if anything can be said to define Hignell's life, it is not MS but sport. So let us go back not 10 years but 50. Cricket was his first sporting love, from the age of three. "And I can remember throwing a coin into a wishing well at age 14, wishing that I might become a professional cricketer."

His father, who had represented Great Britain in the javelin at the Empire Games, was an RAF officer, who sent his three sons to his alma mater, Denstone College in Staffordshire. There, Hignell flourished as a cricketer, and wound up playing for England Schools in a team crammed with future county players. "We had a hell of a batting line-up. Nigel Briers, who became captain of Leicestershire, then Gehan Mendis, Sussex and Lancashire, Chris Tavare three, Vic Marks four, Alastair Hignell five, Paul Parker six..."

In the summer of 1973 he scored a truckload of runs for the schools side and various other representative teams. Gloucestershire duly signed him for the following season, but in the meantime he yearned to play rugby, at which he had also represented England Schools. So he offered his services to Bristol, who were short of a second-team scrum-half that weekend against Gloucester. Nobody told him that matches between Bristol and Gloucester were like Sam Peckinpah movies, but it didn't take him long to find out.

"Someone was punched and carted off with a fractured cheekbone in the second minute," he recalls, cheerfully. "I was so scared, this little boy scrum-half being taken apart by men. But before three weeks were up I was playing for the first team, and that season we won the equivalent of the Premiership now, then called 'the Sunday Telegraph pennant' or something. So we were champions of England, but cricket was still my priority. I got a few games with Gloucestershire towards the end of the '74 season. Then I went up to Cambridge."

A fresher who had played cricket with Mike Proctor and Zaheer Abbas, and had won honours with Bristol RUFC, was hot property. Ian Robertson, the first-team coach and coincidentally Hignell's future BBC colleague and close friend, decided to try the newcomer at full-back, where he thrived despite a torrid experience in his first game against proper grown-up opposition. "Against Cardiff I lined up Gerald Davies for a tackle, he sidestepped, and the next thing I knew he was under the posts and I was in the stand."

Gentle, sotto voce self-deprecation like this informs most of Hignell's reminiscences, and it is with almost an apologetic air that he recalls being written up, in the days when a large press corps reported Oxbridge matches against top club sides, as a potential England full-back. Sure enough, he got the call for the tour to Australia in the summer of 1975.

"England in those days were a bit patronising towards the Australians," he tells me. "They regarded them almost as an emerging nation, and a tour there as an opportunity to pick an experimental side. So all four half-backs had one cap between them. On the other hand we had Tony Neary, John Pullin, Fran Cotton, Mike Burton, to add some weight."

In more ways than one. Hignell's Test debut was the infamous Battle of Brisbane, in which Burton became the first Englishman to be sent off in an international. "It was extraordinary," he says. "The first line-out ball went straight over the top, and they all turned round and thumped each other. Then Mike Burton got hold of this guy and gave him the 'Kingsholm kiss'. It was mayhem. Bill Beaumont went off for stitches. And I still hadn't touched the ball."

Scarcely had Hignell got home, with the bruises still to show for it, than he was turning out for Gloucestershire in Sunday League cricket. A week or two later in the Varsity match he got 60 against an attack spearheaded by Oxford undergraduate Imran Khan. And when his county form continued the following season there were some who pressed for him to play cricket for England: truly, his was a gilded sporting career that reminds us how things have changed in 30 years. For four years, while first-choice full-back for England ahead of Dusty Hare, he continued to perform solidly every summer for Gloucestershire. I ask him to tell me about that century against a West Indian team presumably in its pomp. "Oh, but it wasn't against Holding and Roberts and the real fast-bowling armoury," he says softly. "It was the lesser lights, Vanburn Holder, Bernard Julien, Collis King..."

I search Hignell's open, kindly face for signs of false modesty: there are none. Then he tells me that on the rugby field he played a part in three Grand Slams. Really? "Yes. In 1977 France beat us 4-3 at Twickenham, I missed five kicks out of six, and they went on to win the Grand Slam. In 1978 we lost 9-6 to Wales, I missed four kicks out of six, they won the Grand Slam. I played my last game for England in 1979." A broad smile. "And in 1980 England won the Grand Slam."

He retired from rugby because persistent ankle injuries were jeopardising his cricket career, which after all was his bread and butter, not that he could afford much jam. Then, after quitting cricket too, and a few years after joining the staff of Sherborne School, he decided to give broadcasting a whirl. He had already done stints as a rugby summariser for Radio Bristol and occasionally Radio 2, so it wasn't a complete leap into the unknown. He became a BBC sports assistant, and was seconded to Test Match Special. "My job was to open the champagne, cut Brian Johnston's cake and do the odd interview." In that order, I assume.

Later, to facilitate a move back to the West Country, Hignell joined the television company HTV. But by 1997 he had returned to the BBC to work for 5 Live, and it was while interviewing the Saracens and England flanker Richard Hill that one of the early signs of his MS materialised.

"I was holding the microphone and my hand started shaking violently. I decided it was the cold, but by then some other things weren't working properly. I was having problems with my bladder – I know now bladder urgency is an MS thing. And I was getting pins and needles. And headaches. But I had myself checked and they couldn't find anything wrong."

But the problems worsened and eventually he had a full MRI scan, which yielded the horrible diagnosis. I ask him how his two sons took the news. "They were teenagers at the time, with their own things to deal with. I don't think it's disrespectful to say that they didn't react very well. They'd grown up knowing their dad had been a sportsman ... this wasn't something that should happen. The younger one in particular hid it away. But they're great now."

Hignell carried on working, and covered three more World Cups. But after the 2007 tournament he realised that the next World Cup or Lions tour would be beyond him. He stopped driving after a nasty car crash in 2005 – possibly caused by MS-blunted reflexes – and can no longer walk without a stick. And although the disease is not galloping as quickly as it might, his mobility will get increasingly limited. He knew it was time for him to vacate the commentary box. Moreover, retirement gives him more time for physiotherapy, and for his fund-raising work for the splendid Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre (MSRC), whose patron he is, work that would be tireless if only he didn't get so damn tired.

How often, I wonder, does he reflect on the cruel irony of someone so blessed with sporting talent now losing basic physical faculties? A bright smile. "I actually think the MS has been a blessing, because it has allowed me to see how brilliant people are. When you have a disability you are exposed to so much kindness you wouldn't otherwise have experienced. There is no point dwelling on the negatives. Despite my competitive instincts, you can waste a lot of energy by fighting against something. Sometimes you have to let it take you somewhere."

This is his cue to rise, and with obvious difficulty, to accompany me to the door. And as I leave his house I reflect on what the golf writer Pat Ward-Thomas wrote about the great Bobby Jones, who at 46 was diagnosed with the debilitating spinal disease that would eventually kill him: "He enjoyed the best that life could throw at him, and endured the worst, with equal grace." So it is with Hignell.

Higgy's Heroes, a band of volunteers, undertake regular charity challenges on behalf of the MSRC. For details, or to join them, please contact msrc.co.uk

A good sport: Ali's almanac

*Born: 4 September 1955, Cambridge, England

*Represented Cambridge University and Gloucestershire at cricket, as well as winning 14 caps for the England rugby union team.

*Weeks after his England rugby debut in 1975 (a 'brutal' encounter with Australia in Brisbane), Hignell was staring down the crease at fast bowler Imran Khan in the Varsity cricket match.

*First person from Cambridge University to captain both rugby and cricket teams, winning blues for four years running in both sports.

*Worked as a teacher in Bristol and Dorset while playing rugby for Bristol and England in the winter and cricket for Gloucestershire during the summer.

*Scored 11 first-class centuries in 170 matches, averaging 29.48 and posting a top score of 149*.

*Began career in journalism after his retirement, as well as continuing to teach, working for BBC radio.

*Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999; works to raise funds and spread awareness about the disease.

*After his final commentary for BBC Radio last May, the retiring Wasps captain Lawrence Dallaglio dedicated his side's Premiership final win to Hignell.

*Awarded Honorary Master of Arts degree by Bristol University in 2004 and the Helen Rollason award at the 2008 BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.

Source: The Independent ©independent.co.uk (12/01/09)

Alastair Hignell, patron of the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre (MSRC) charity, has been named the 2008 recipient of BBC Sports Personality's Helen Rollason award.

The 53-year-old played rugby union for England and cricket for Gloucestershire before becoming a BBC Radio commentator on rugby union. Hignell was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999 and has since been heavily involved in fundraising.

"I feel so honoured to be named alongside the previous winners and Helen Rollason herself," said Hignell.

The award was presented by World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward while former Wasps captain Lawrence Dallaglio also paid tribute to the Bristol man.

Hignell worked for the BBC for 17 years and for BBC Radio 5 Live for 12 years, before retiring in May this year. The first Cambridge student to captain the university at both cricket and rugby union, he played professional cricket for Gloucestershire from 1974 to 1983, passing 1,000 runs for the season three times and hitting 11 first-class centuries.

The award is a tribute to former BBC presenter Helen Rollason MBE, who died from cancer in 1999 at the age of 43. Helen fronted BBC's Newsround before becoming the first woman to present BBC Sport's flagship Grandstand programme.

The MSRC is a proactive and innovative charity committed to supporting anyone affected by multiple sclerosis thorough access to unbiased information and advice. The charity’s approach is to encourage individuals to make choices which are appropriate to their daily lives, empowering them to maximise their potential.

MSRC Chief Executive, Helen Yates, said: “Alastair does a fantastic job for us as patron and we are all thrilled for him. It is just reward for all the fantastic work he does both publicly and behind the scenes, helping with our fundraising work and bringing a greater awareness of MS to the public.”

Earlier this year, a 13-strong team called Higgy’s Heroes –sporting colleagues or contemporaries of Alastair from his Cambridge University days – ran the Flora London Marathon to raise money for MSRC. Higgy’s Heroes has now taken on a life of its own as a fund-raising initiative for MSRC across the country and across a number of sporting activities.

Phil Vickery and Alastair Hignell

Alastair Hignell, BBC Radio 5 Live rugby union commentator, retired following the Guinness Premiership final between Wasps and Leicester on Saturday.

Alastair, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999 and is now an ardent campaigner for the raising of awareness of the illness as patron of the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre (MSRC).

He worked for the BBC for 17 years and for Radio 5 Live for 12 years, as well as being an accomplished sportsman in his own right. Alastair was the  first Cambridge student to captain the university at both cricket and rugby union, he played professional cricket for Gloucestershire and rugby union for England winning 14 caps as a full-back. He also played for Bristol for many years.

Helen Yates, MSRC Chief Executive said of Alastair, "Everyone at MSRC wishes Alastair all the best in his new future, we hope that he finds interest and satisfaction in whatever he chooses to do."

Alastair said of his battle with MS, "I was first diagnosed on 8 January 1999. The sun was shining, it was 11.30 in the morning. I'd had a series of symptoms which the doctors had not been able to explain. My right hand was very, very shaky, my right leg kept tripping me up from time to time. I had pins and needles, numb sensations, headaches, bladder problems, all of which were tested individually and nothing was found to be wrong.

"But eventually they said, 'all those are symptoms of multiple sclerosis', and they sent me in for an MRI scan and that showed little scarrings on the brain and they were pretty certain it was multiple sclerosis. They put me in for further tests and stuck a great big needle into my back and came out with a diagnosis after that.

"It's an incurable disease and it's unpredictable disease and it's different for individuals. Some people have a very progressive form of the disease, a primary form of the disease; some people have what they call benign multiple sclerosis, where they get one attack and then it's a long time before the next.

"The one I've got is 'secondary-progressive', which means it is gradually getting worse. When I was first diagnosed I was able to run and train and I was determined to prove I could beat this disease and be bigger and better. I threw myself into physical activity and work activity and ended up very exhausted and very angry. I wasn't getting anywhere, the MS was getting worse.

"I now drive a scooter around most of the time. I can get around with a stick, but I can't drive a car any more. I'm very lucky to have a support worker through Access to Work, which is a government-funded scheme. My right arm doesn't work very well and my right leg doesn't work very well, so I use things like speech recognition on the computer and any aid that's available I will go out there and use.

"My future is a bit of an open book at the moment. I'd like to find one-off projects either within sport, within the media, within teaching or in another field altogether. Nothing at the moment is firmed up. I'm going to enjoy being an ex-commentator for a while, enjoy the summer, maybe watch a bit of cricket and see what comes up."

Interview: Retiring commentator Alastair Hignell with John Inverdale

Without much hassle, my electric scooter and I have been to Australia, New Zealand, France, Ireland and Scotland. We have coped with hops across the Channel, changing  stations in Paris, as well as long-hauls across the oceans.

But now we are left kicking our wheels after being banned from my regular train service in the UK.........more.

Monday is my ‘me’ day. Whatever treatment is available on a Monday, I’ll have it - in whichever order suits best.

Usually, it starts with physio.........more.

My walking stick is called Michael, after the German tennis player (Michael Stich.) When I say Michael has very human characteristics, I’m thinking teenage sons. He is never there when you want him, never responds when you call, and when you do share the same space, he is always  under your feet. Worse still, at social gatherings, he leans drunkenly against the wall before choosing the worst possible moment to slide gracelessly and noisily to the floor........ more