Hull KR's Masoe forced to leave hospital to make space for virus victims
LONDON: Hull KR's Samoa international Mose Masoe has been told he must leave hospital after his careerending injury to make space for victims of the coronavirus.
Masoe won't play again following the serious spinal injury he suffered in a preseason friendly in January.
The 30-year-old is focused on resuming normal life instead and recently started walking with the assistance of parallel bars.
But the Super League star will have to leave Pinderfields Hospital shortly and continue his rehabilitation at home due to the virus spread.
"They've got to clear out a lot of wards to get in the people who have coronavirus so a lot of us have to go home," Masoe told the Hull KR website on Monday.
"I'm not really ready to go home at all. It will be nice to get home so I can spend some time with my kids but there's a lot of things I can't do myself, like going to the toilet and things like that. I don't want to put a burden on my missus.
"We just got the news this morning so we're still in the dark. When you get a spinal injury we're at a high risk. A lot of people forget our immune systems drop."
Masoe said he has been told hospital staff are concerned about patients catching the virus and are also trying to clear out the wards for people who need treatment for it.
"We need people to stay home so we can get back into the hospital to do rehab," he added. "People need to stop being selfish because we've felt the effects already.
"It's the first time in the world you can save lives by just staying home watching TV or playing PlayStation. That's my frustration with people who aren't listening.
"My wife is pregnant so they've all been staying home and she's only going out to get food. They've been doing the right thing and staying away.
"I'm gutted to be going home because I wanted to keep my progression going."