{"id":39907,"date":"2026-06-28T04:44:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T04:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/39907\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T04:44:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T04:44:18","slug":"central-queensland-familys-heartbreaking-fight-against-motor-neurone-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/39907\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Queensland family’s ‘heartbreaking’ fight against motor neurone disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

Graham Horstman battled motor neurone disease (MND), a devastating and incurable illness, just as he did the football field: head-on.<\/p>\n

“Graham’s attitude was: ‘It is what it is, we get on with it, and we move forward,’ and that was just his whole outlook the whole way through,” Mr Horstman’s wife, Leigh, said.<\/p>\n

After receiving the diagnosis at the age of 51, Mr Horstman died six months later, leaving behind his wife, children Megan, Riley and Daine, and six grandchildren.<\/p>\n

“It was heartbreaking \u2026 but Graham never faltered,” Ms Horstman said.\"An<\/p>\n

Graham Horstman (number 8) was a fearless player on the rugby league field in central Queensland. (Supplied: Leigh Horstman)<\/p>\n

MND is a progressive and fatal neurological condition<\/a> with no known cause or cure.<\/p>\n

The illness relentlessly robs a person of their strength, mobility and speech by stripping away their physical independence, leaving them feeling trapped inside, according to MND Australia.<\/p>\n

At the time of diagnosis, the Horstman family from Rockhampton felt blindsided about the life-altering impacts that were ahead.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t even know what MND was,” Ms Horstman said.<\/p>\n

“As a family, we honestly had no idea.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Horstmans rallied around their much-loved husband, father and grandfather. (Supplied: Leigh Horstman)<\/p>\n

Giving other MND families hope<\/p>\n

MND, which gradually restricts everyday functions such as walking, talking, swallowing and eventually breathing, is widely considered by medical experts around the world as one of the cruellest diseases.<\/p>\n

The debilitating condition has been thrust into the spotlight in recent weeks after 30-year-old NRL player Jai Arrow’s shock diagnosis<\/a> and the death of former AFL footballer, Australian of the Year, and MND campaigner Neale Daniher at the age of 65<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Jai<\/p>\n

Jai Arrow’s MND diagnosis has shone a spotlight on the debilitating condition. (Getty Images: \u00a0Mark Metcalfe)<\/p>\n

It has been two decades since the close-knit Horstman family lost the central Queensland rugby league identity and much-loved husband, father and grandfather.<\/p>\n

Ms Horstman is sharing her family’s MND journey for the first time to give other families hope.<\/p>\n

“He loved nothing better than when some of his football friends would come over and they’d sit there and talk rubbish, even though he might not have contributed much [at the end],” she recalled.<\/p>\n

Experience of living with MND<\/p>\n

Signs of the disease were subtle in the beginning, Ms Horstman said.<\/p>\n

“Graham would be walking and he’d stumble; his knee would just sort of give away,” she said.<\/p>\n

“He finally had some surgery and then did the whole physiotherapy rehab afterwards, but he kept saying it wasn’t getting any better.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Graham Horstman was a well-respected player, coach and teammate to the end. (Supplied: Leigh Horstman)<\/p>\n

There is no specific test for MND, and treatment options are also limited.<\/p>\n

After an exhaustive period of testing 700 kilometres away in Brisbane, Mr Horstman was diagnosed with MND on November 16, 2005.<\/p>\n

“By Christmas, he was using a walking frame, much to his disgust,” Ms Horstman said.<\/p>\n

“By February, he was in a wheelchair and by about April he was starting to lose the ability to swallow and use his hands as well.”<\/p>\n

Mr Horstman died on May 16, 2006.<\/p>\n

“It was just heartbreaking to see [Graham’s decline],” Ms Horstman said.<\/p>\n

“It was tough and it was hard for the kids, and I have no doubt it’s still hard for them.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The FightMND charity and its annual Big Freeze day at the MCG have raised $150 million for motor neuron disease research. (Supplied: Fight MND\/Fiona Hamilton)<\/p>\n

Standing alongside those affected<\/p>\n

There are up to 2,800 people living with MND nationally, and every day in Australia, two people are diagnosed and two people will die with the disease.<\/p>\n

The number of deaths across Australia has tripled since 1986, and outcomes are worse for regional patients compared with those in the cities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Life expectancy after being diagnosed varies from person to person but is generally one to five years, according to MND Australia.<\/p>\n

Salma Charania, the organisation’s chair of the MND Collective Clinical Care Expert Driving Team, said Australian researchers had made “leaps and bounds” in understanding MND.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Salma Charania is passionate about improving the quality of care and quality of life for people with MND. (ABC Capricornia: Aaron Kelly)<\/p>\n

Dr Charania said the first Australian MND care guideline, a uniform approach to improve the care and quality of life for those living with the disease, would be “amazing” when released in 2027.<\/p>\n

The initiative, funded by FightMND, will give evidence-based scaffolding and recommendations for healthcare practitioners, carers and stakeholders.<\/p>\n

“It’s such a rare disease that wasn’t getting a lot of attention even 10 years ago, and it has picked up, which is great, unfortunately due to people being diagnosed or passing away in the [public] spotlight,” Dr Charania said.<\/p>\n

MND Australia chief executive Clare Sullivan said “enormous research” was also underway into the genetic predisposition of the disease.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Clare Sullivan says research developments are underway to help better understand the disease. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)<\/p>\n

“We’ve also got a medicine that’s coming online this year that’s available for people who have a particular type of gene, and that medicine is staving off the progression of the disease. It’s quite remarkable,” she said.<\/p>\n

“At the moment, Australia is having a moment where it realises how devastating this disease is and how little we know about it.”Graham’s long-lasting legacy<\/p>\n

Ms Horstman welcomed the research and medical advances that had been made in the 20 years since her husband’s death.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Leigh Horstman says her family will continue Graham’s fight and legacy for others navigating an MND diagnosis. (ABC Capricornia: Aaron Kelly)<\/p>\n

She said the family would carry on his legacy by continuing to raise funds and awareness.<\/p>\n

And for those navigating MND, she offered this advice.<\/p>\n

“Reach out, reach out to your family, your loved ones, take any offers of support that you can,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Keep it in the public eye because there has to be a cure somewhere and don’t lose hope because there has to be hope.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Graham Horstman battled motor neurone disease (MND), a devastating and incurable illness, just as he did the football…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,3052,32313,9114,32317,32318,9113,3770,32316,32315,32314],"class_list":["post-39907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-family","tag-graham-horstman","tag-mnd","tag-mnd-awareness","tag-mnd-life-expectancy","tag-motor-neurone-disease","tag-rugby-league","tag-what-are-the-symptons-of-mnd","tag-what-causes-mnd","tag-what-is-mnd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}