The Power of Choice
About this audiobook
'Life is part chance, part circumstance, part choice. You don't get to choose everything that happens to you, but you always get to choose who you become in response.'
Neale Daniher is in his thirteenth year of living with Motor Neurone Disease. His body is broken and he can no longer speak, but his mind is sharp and his capacity to give, unvanquished.
With the terminal diagnosis came a choice: to retreat into the comfort of home and family, or to look for opportunity in the darkest of times.
Neale - a thinker, a taskmaster, a competitor - chose to fight, not just for his life but for those who will be diagnosed in the future. His tireless work with FightMND has helped to mobilised millions of Australians to combat the cruel killer he calls The Beast.
Neale shares with us what he wishes to pass on to his six grandkids, to help them harness the power of choice and make good decisions. Lessons on choosing your attitude, being courageous and accepting responsibility sit beside advice on practising gratitude, valuing actions over words and making the world a better place - all leading towards getting the most out of ourselves and staying in the driver's seat of our own lives.
Written with the clarity, wisdom and huge-heartedness of a man who has chosen to dedicate his final years to the service of others, The Power of Choice is an urgent reminder to use our agency to grow, to give, to love and to make every minute count.
About the author
Neale Daniher AO was born in 1961 in Ungarie, a tiny town in New South Wales, the third of eleven children. A talented all-round sportsman, Neale's passion was Australian Rules; he played for Essendon Football Club in a promising but injury-plagued career between 1979 and 1990. He was part of the famous Daniher football dynasty: four brothers from the bush who played a combined 752 VFL/AFL games. In football, his off-field achievements are in coaching and administration. He was senior coach at Melbourne for 10 seasons, inaugural CEO of the AFL Coaches Association, and general manager of football operations with the West Coast Eagles. Neale co-founded FightMND in 2014 after he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. The charity raises awareness of MND and has invested over $130 million into medical research to find a cure. 'The Beast' takes two lives every day in Australia. Neale was originally awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 2016 for his tireless work with FightMND, and in 2021 he was elevated to Officer of the Order of Australia. In 2025, Neale was named Australian of the Year. His bestselling memoir When All is Said and Done was published in 2019 and won ABIA Biography Book of the Year. Neale and his wife, Jan, live in Melbourne and are the proud parents of Lauren, Luke, Bec and Ben, and loving grandparents to six children. To find out more about Neale Daniher please visit www.nealedaniher.com
