Fighting spirit

Gregory has not coached since the Challenge Cup final in 2004

The wife of former Wigan coach and Great Britain skipper Mike Gregory has paid tribute to her husband as he battles to recover from a muscle-wasting illness.

Gregory is fighting to overcome a chronic illness they believe was caused by a bacterial infection which developed after an insect bite in 2003.

The condition has left him in a wheelchair and with slurred speech but wife Erica says he has handled the disorder with great dignity.

"He is phenomenal, he makes me very proud," she told BBC Radio Five Live.

"Although weakened, he is a fantastic father and he is an amazing role model.

The sad thing is that people have treated him differently Erica Gregory

"Mike has never wanted pity, he has only wanted to be treated as the man who has been a fantastic rugby player, who has been captain of his country, who has been a very successful coach and who is a father to two wonderful little boys.

"He is quite exemplary as a human being."

Gregory, now 41, won 20 caps for Great Britain in a glittering playing career and led the Lions to a series win over New Zealand in 1989.

He played for Warrington for more than 12 years and became head coach of Wigan, his hometown club, in 2003.

But things started to go wrong after he returned from a 10-day trip to Australasia and South Africa with the Great Britain Academy side.

Gregory was a determined competitor on the pitch

"Shortly after Mike returned from Australia, he developed a rash," Erica explained.

"We did not know what it was and as time went on Mike started developing a stiff neck and had difficulties with the rotation of one wrist.

"We just thought that as he had played rugby for such a long time, it was something like a trapped disc.

"Had we known what that rash had represented and the devastation it could do, we could have really done something about it."

Gregory stayed on at Wigan into 2004 and led the Warriors to the Challenge Cup final that year, his team losing 32-16 to St Helens.

He travelled to America for treatment after the Cardiff contest, but the game was to be his last in charge of Wigan.

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And after the resolution of a lengthy legal battle with his former employers, Gregory and his wife are now determined to confront the stigma of disability.

"We are now going to do our best to highlight to people who are interested the difficulties Mike has faced from being a fully-abled person to becoming someone who is now classed as disabled," Erica added.

"The sad thing is that people have treated him differently.

We are pushing the frontiers of medicine Erica Gregory

"We had people who have been so supportive to the other extreme where people have been quite hurtful.

"I think that's wrong and Mike thinks that's wrong. If there is anything we can do to enlighten people then we will."

Gregory's family believe his disorder is a potentially reversible condition called progressive muscular atrophy and not the degenerative motor neurone disease some say he is suffering from.

"We've done a lot of work into this condition and working closely with Mike's medical team," Erica said.

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"Mike has a fantastic team behind him. They have been very supportive.

"We are pushing the frontiers of medicine because hopefully what will help Mike will help others.

"We have been working with the Americans and Mike is going to start some pioneering treatment in June.

"We are hopeful and we are hoping that it is going to help Mike's body to recover from the damage that has been done."