When former Dragons star Rod McGregor learned he had early onset Alzheimer’s disease a couple of years ago, one of his first decisions was to donate his brain to science after his death.
“It was a big thing for him to do but that is the kind of guy Rod is,” Men of League volunteer Natalie Morrison told Wide World of Sports.
“He is struggling quite a bit and the family are looking at getting him into a care house.
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“We’ve helped with little things like getting bills paid, fixing up their bathroom.
“And we just talk to Rod about football – that part of his brain is still functional.”
A premiership winner with the famous ‘Bath’s Babes’ at St George in 1977, McGregor, now 67, had a fairytale rise to the top.
He came to the Dragons from his home town of Yass as a ‘nobody’ at the start of that season and went on to become one of the few players to win a premiership in their debut year.
He also played for New South Wales that same season in the annual interstate clash with Queensland before the birth of State of Origin three years later.
But just as quickly as McGregor’s star rose, it faded. After two years at the Dragons and one at Souths, he returned to the bush and now lives in Canberra with wife Lynn.
Men of League have been helping the McGregors for the past few years and former Raiders star Sia Soliola and CRRL Chairman Gary Green recently visited him and presented him with a framed Raiders jumper.
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