KR favourite Masoe delighted to be sat up in a hospital bed

IT CANNOT be often anyone says they are “stoked” to be in hospital but retired Hull KR player Mose Masoe has good reason.

The former Samoa prop had to quit the sport in January after suffering a severe spinal injury in the Robins’ pre-season friendly at Wakefield Trinity.

However, not playing the sport he loves anymore was not his biggest concern; as he underwent emergency surgery, there was fears the 30-year-old would never walk again.

At first, Masoe was paralysed from the shoulders down and only able to move his head; he spent the first weeks of his recovery in Wakefield’s Pinderfields Hospital in a fixed lying position.

Nevertheless, he made excellent progress with his rehabilitation and, given his innate positivity, few people are surprised that, nearly three months on, he is managing to walk again with crutches.

That massive development, though, nearly did not happen; it was as recently as Monday March 30 that Masoe – who won the 2014 Grand Final with St Helens – was told he would need to leave the specialist unit and continue his recovery at home as beds were needed for expected patients suffering from coronavirus.

It was a severe blow for the New Zealander who feared his progress could be badly affected away from such specialist care.

However, fortunately, there was a welcome U-turn and Masoe, a fan-favourite in his 59 games for KR, is now able to stay for the foreseeable future.

“I’m very grateful to be in here because a lot of things have happened in the last week, which has been good improvements for myself,” said Masoe, in an interview with Sky Sports.

“I think it’s come down from the top. The spinal ward wants to stay the spinal ward, but with the coronavirus, I think it’s safer for people to go home.

“A lot of people were told it was better for them to go home and stay away from this [hospital]. We were told that last Monday.

“The very next day, I think our consultancy were fighting for us to stay spinal because they knew how important it was. I’m very lucky to be in here for another week. I was stoked!

“I‘m just making the most of every day in here. In just one week I’ve learnt how to transfer from my chair into a bath chair, I’ve started to walk with crutches, I’ve got my own walking frame, so I walk around my bed just with a frame.

“The physios have been awesome. If I fall over, they’ve taught me how to crawl and to climb up onto something to get you back into the chair. I’ve learnt that all in a week.”