Scottish golfer who lost mum to MND opens up on trauma faced by families

Claire Mactaggart died last year after being diagnosed with MND in July 2024, with her daughter learning about the shocking news as she was competing on the Ladies European Tour’s feeder circuit in Sweden.

In a bid to highlight the impact of MND on families, Tara, who is now an ambassador for My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, the charity founded by the late Scotland rugby international and MND campaigner Doddie Weir, is encouraging people to take part in Doddie Aid, the foundation’s annual fundraising challenge.

“That’s what Doddie’s had,” recalled Tara of the news she was told by her dad Stuart and older sister Gina after returning from the tournament she had been playing on the LET Access Series. “I knew instantly it was a death sentence. You never think it will happen to you – and then boom, life will never be the same again.”

Claire had been a riding instructor before spending 30 years as an additional support needs assistant, working one-to-one with autistic children.

‘Tragic irony’

“There’s a tragic irony in it,” said Tara, who is married to Angus Carrick, a former Scottish Amateur champion, and lives in Gullane. “She taught people how to speak and communicate – and then she lost her own voice.”

Tara believes there needs to be greater awareness in acute care settings of how MND affects breathing, swallowing and recovery from respiratory infections, and said her family’s experience of emergency care added avoidable distress.

“I’d have killed for somewhere like the Rob Burrow Centre, especially when mum had pneumonia,” she said, referring to the specialist MND centre in Leeds. “We sat in an ambulance outside for two and a half hours, then 10 hours we were in A&E with somebody who has a terminal disease. That’s what makes it so much more traumatic.

“It’s bad enough knowing there’s no cure. Knowing the care, knowledge and understanding of MND isn’t there for everybody makes it worse. It isn’t good enough.”

Tara is now determined to bang the drum for families living with MND, and to help raise funds for both research and practical support.

“People like my mum can’t die for nothing,” she said. “There has to be something positive and good from the suffering. If that’s raising money and awareness that takes us closer to a cure, or makes some difference, then that must be it.”

Tara is urging people to sign up to Doddie Aid, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation’s annual fund-raising challenge founded by former Scotland rugby captain and Doddie’s friend and former teammate Rob Wainwright.

For five weeks from January 1, participants choose an activity – such as walking, running, cycling or swimming – log their miles during the challenge period, and raise money to support research and care.

‘This disease doesn’t just happen to one person’

“This disease doesn’t just happen to one person,” Tara said. “It happens to whole families. People often ask me what they can do to help – the first thing is to sign up for Doddie Aid.

“It gives meaning to those we have lost and honours those who have fought this disease, and takes us closer to a future where no family has to go through what we did.”