Ex-Springbok rugby captain, Joost van der Westhuizen, has thanked the country for all the support he’s been given since being diagnosed, last week, with Motor Neuron Disease (MND).

Bidget van Oerle, van der Westhuizen’s representative, relayed his thoughts to the public in a statement from Joost:

Thank you very much for all the messages of support and wishes I have received; not only from South Africa, but from all over the world. I am overwhelmed by all the messages.

On Saturday Joost’s estranged wife, Amor Vittone, took their two children, Jordan and Kylie, aged seven and five, to the hospital to visit their father. She did, however, leave without them, probably to shield them from the media.

Vittone explained the news to her children on Thursday, and in an interview on Jacarabda 94.2 FM said that it was like a “death sentence” when she heard the news.

Joost is still in the hospital, to build up his immunity and to have final testing done on how advanced the MND is.