Rob’s courage humbles us all
OUR CHIEF SPORTS WRITER TAKES AIM AT ALL THE STRICKEN EX- RHINOS STAR STILL FIGHTING
TOUGH YEAR: Burrows in January and in the BBC interview
IT’S safe to assume most people cannot wait for 2020 to be over.
Covid- 19 has turned our lives upside down and challenged us like never before. It has tested our tolerance, understanding and spirit to the absolute limit.
So have those who run English football, not least this week when we’ve seen them squabble over power and cash with arrogance and greed.
But once in a while someone comes along with an inspirational reminder of what a sobering virtue perspective can be.
Right now, that person is Rob Burrow.
He has Motor Neurone Disease ( MND) and it has engulfed him so quickly he is now struggling to talk, walk or feed himself. His wife, Lindsay, has gone from being his childhood sweetheart to full- time carer.
He is just 38 and has three young children. His hopes of now seeing them grow up, get married and have families of their own are slim at best. For now, spending one last Christmas with them might be as good as it gets, because MND does not give a damn.
To someone who knows little about MND, words feel like inadequate tools with which to describe the shattering nature of the debilitating disease, one that strips sufferers of their dignity and is ultimately fatal.
Burrow is a sporting icon, a man who defied his size to become one of the most successful rugby league players of all time. He dedicated his career to the Leeds Rhinos, winning eight Grand Finals and two Challenge Cups, not to mention 20 caps for England and Great Britain.
His achievements put him in the pantheon of his profession. Those privileged to call him a friend speak of f a hard but h humble bl and d genuine i man who did it all with a smile on his face.
Burrow is still smiling now, because he is tackling MND with the same remarkable courage and class he once showed on the field, educating people about it and inspiring countless others to perform remarkable feats to raise funds in the ongoing bid to find a cure.
Like his former captain and team- mate Kevin Sinfield, who last weekend ran his second solo marathon on Saddleworth Moor to swell coffers that can never be big enough.
Rugby league is full of hard men like Sinfield, who was as tough as teak, but even he was reduced to tears when discussing the plight of his big mate Burrow in the excellent
BBC documentary ‘ Rob
Burrow: My Year with MND’, which aired earlier this week.
Burrow insists he has “too many reasons to live” to let the disease beat him and will “not give in until his last breath”. But deep down, Sinfield knows his pal now finds himself in one battle he cannot win. Heartbreaking.
So if you think life is tough right now, take a moment to think of Burrow and what him and his family are going through, trapped in a nightmare from which there is no escape.
If we all had hearts as big as his, the world would be a much better place.
To donate to a fund set up to help Rob and his family, visit www. virginmoneygiving. com/ fund/ robburrow