Sally Nugent remembers ‘incredibly brave’ Rob Burrow after death at 41
The BBC Breakfast presenter spent time with him and his family.
BBC Breakfast presenter Sally Nugent has remembered Rob Burrow as “incredibly brave, frightened of nobody” following his death aged 41 with motor neurone disease (MND).
The experiences of the former rugby league star were chronicled on the morning TV programme over the years and Nugent spent a lot of time with Burrow and his family.
Speaking on the show, Nugent said: “I’ve got a list of notes here with all the facts and figures about Rob and the money that him and Kevin (Sinfield, his former teammate) have raised and the incredible career he’s had.
“And actually, the numbers don’t really matter so much this morning, do they? What matters is talking about that man. And we’ve seen him as a player, haven’t we? We’ve seen that strength.
She added: “When he was a kid trying to play rugby in his local team, everyone said he was too small and he ignored them all.
“And that is what made him so, so powerful. He’s incredibly strong for his height, incredibly quick.”
“When you look at how he performed on the pitch, it is no surprise the man that we’ve seen off the pitch too because he worked for his teammates.
“He was incredibly brave, frightened of nobody, these huge big intimidating men, miles taller than him, he didn’t care. He knew he could beat them.”
Burrow’s former team, Leeds Rhinos, said he “passed away peacefully” at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, near his home, surrounded by his family, after becoming ill earlier this week.
Nugent said Burrow’s diagnosis with MND came “horribly quickly” after he retired from rugby league, “when he had so many hopes and dreams for his future”.
She added: “In lots of ways he didn’t give up on that future. He was diagnosed and then very quickly, we went into lockdown. He wanted to make more memories with the kids and he wasn’t really able to do that.
“But they did in their own way. They fought against it in a way.
“He wanted the children to still have their dad, to remember him. And you have to remember at this point, he was fighting for every single day. And he was changing what people thought about MND along the way.”
Reflecting on Burrow’s legacy, she said: “I think what he did that changed everything for people who are diagnosed with motor neurone disease is he did not hide away.
“Lots of people just want to stay home – it’s frightening to go out, you’re losing your power to walk, to communicate.
“What he did was he invited us in at his most vulnerable moments, which is an incredible thing to do. And he went on and carried on living a life.”
