‘Tragic beauty’ as Zyw battles MND to make Winter Paralympics historyImage source, InstagramImage caption, Davy Zyw was given three years to live seven years agoPublished13 minutes agoEdinburgh’s Davy Zyw has spoken of “the tragic beauty” of becoming what is believed to be the first snowsport athlete with motor neurone disease (MND) to compete at the Winter Paralympics.The 38-year-old snowboarder has just been verified in the Team GB squad to compete at the Milan-Cortina Games, which start on 6 March.
In a video posted by Team GB on Instagram, Zyw explains that he was diagnosed with the incureable life-shortening disease in 2018 at the age of 30.
“Essentially, I was told I had two or three years to live,” Zyw reported. “I’m seven years on and I’ve just fought my way up the ladder to get on the team at the Paralympics.
“I’ve had to accept the impossible, accept my fate. But, within that, there was a freedom. A freedom that nothing is impossible and that’s the message I want people to take away.”