SCOTLAND rugby legend Doddie Weir has vowed to live life to the full as he battles against Motor Neuron Disease.

The 47-year-old - capped 61 times for his country - is fighting the crippling muscle-wasting disease as well as raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for research into a cure.

But the former British Lion from Stow has lost none of his humour after delighting a sell-out audience at the Borders Book

Festival in Melrose, at the weekend.

He shared the stage with fellow Scotland legends Finlay Calder and Gary Armstrong as they talked about Weir's battle against MND and also their rugby glory days.

Weir laughed: "I am humbled to be sitting here beside Finlay Calder OBE and Gary Armstrong OBE and here is me with HND after my name!

"It has been a pretty rough journey for the past 18 months but these two have have been brilliant with their support and are trustees with the Foundation.

"How am I doing? Every week I get emails saying big man keep up the good work.

"But I got one from a man who was saying his brother-in-law was diagnosed in September and by December he was dead. He was 38 and had two kids aged two and five.

"I am 10 years further on and my kids are 10 years further on.

"I suppose it's a bit like having a hangover and you see someone with a worse hangover and suddenly you feel a lot better.

"No-one has outlived MND and hopefully we can change that.

"It is a muscle wasting disease so all the muscles in your body stop working.

"Eventually you can't walk, you can't life, you can't swallow and you only communicate eye-to-eye.

"It is a horrible disease.

"I was told I would not walk within a year so I am happy that I have managed to outdo that.

"There is no timetable on how long to be on this planet but there are estimates of between one and three years.

"But I am just back from Hong Kong and aim to pack a lot of things into my life instead of leaving something for the weekend.

"If you get a chance to do something go out and do it. I have never been invited to so many parties in my life!"

The MyName'5 Doddie Foundation handed over a £400,000 cheque last week to support the work of a team at King's College in London who are investigating gene therapy for sporadic MND and Weir is particularly pleased that seven top professors managed to get round the same table recently to discuss ways of finding a cure for MND.

But he is still frustrated at how not enough has been done to find a cure for the disease which currently affects 450 people in Scotland.

The father-of-three said: "There is no drug which can help cure it.

"There is one drug from 22 years ago but it does not cure it. So you have got to find your own cure whether that be drinking lager, exercise or Soya milk.

"But there is no MND product to help.

"People with MND don't have a chance so that's why I want to try and find a cure."

Weir was given a standing ovation by the 500-strong audience at the end of the hour long talk.