Prime Minister Anthony Albanese presented Mr Daniher with the award during last night’s ceremony in Canberra for his tireless work in motor neurone disease (MND) advocacy.
Mr Daniher was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in 2013 and has spent the past decade raising money and awareness of MND, in the hopes of one day finding a cure.
Speaking to Today, Ms Daniher said she was overcome with emotion when she found out about his win.
“I’m just so proud of him,” she said.
“Unfortunately he can’t be here, but he’ll be saying that this award is in recognition of everyone out there who has been impacted by MND, who supported the cause.”
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Daniher accepted his award in a prerecorded speech last night as his condition has removed his ability to speak.
In his speech he described MND as a “beast” of a disease.
“Dad named it the Beast because he wanted to personalise it so he could fight,” Ms Daniher explained.
“It’s changed our lives. But as I mentioned from day one, he was so determined. He was driven with purpose to find a way to take back control.”
Mr Daniher played AFL for Essendon then went on to coach the Melbourne Demons.
Following his diagnosis, he co-founded the charity FightMND in 2014, which has raised and invested more than $115 million into medical research for the condition.
“It’s so surreal. A little boy that grew up in rural NSW, in a town called Ungarie, one of 11,” Ms Daniher said.
“He just wanted to play footy and now here he is standing, you know he shouldn’t be here.”
