{"id":582732,"date":"2025-11-20T14:59:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T14:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/582732\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T14:59:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T14:59:18","slug":"you-should-be-so-proud-william-tells-rob-burrows-family-at-mnd-centre-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/582732\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You should be so proud\u2019 William tells Rob Burrow\u2019s family at MND centre opening"},"content":{"rendered":"

William met Burrow\u2019s three children \u2013 Macy, Maya and Jackson \u2013 his wife Lindsey, and his fundraising team-mate Kevin Sinfield at the first purpose-built centre dedicated entirely to MND care, research and support \u2013 fulfilling a promise he made to him before he died last year.<\/p>\n

The Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease (MND) was the dream of the Leeds Rhinos star and his consultant Dr Agam Jung, who also talked to William at the facility in Leeds which provides a new \u201cone-stop-shop\u201d for patients and their families.<\/p>\n

\"LindseyLindsey Burrow and her children at the opening of the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease (Danny Lawson\/PA)<\/p>\n

William made Burrow a CBE at the Rhinos\u2019 Headingley Stadium in January 2024, along with Sinfield, and the father-of-three asked the Prince of Wales then if he would open the centre when it was built.<\/p>\n

Burrow died five months later, at the age of 41, following a four-and-a-half-year battle with MND during which he devoted himself to raising awareness and money for treatment and research.<\/p>\n

William arrived at the centre, which is in the grounds of Seacroft Hospital in Leeds, on Thursday morning, thanking everyone for waiting outside in the freezing weather.<\/p>\n

\"RoyalThe Prince of Wales sits next to Maya, Rob Burrow\u2019s daughter, during his visit (Temilade Adelaja\/PA)<\/p>\n

He joked that he had had a late night after attending the Royal Variety Performance in London on Wednesday evening with the Princess of Wales.<\/p>\n

When he met Burrow\u2019s children before the formal ceremony, Macy thanked him for writing to her family, saying; \u201cIt gave us all a lot of comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n

William told her: \u201cNot at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I\u2019m so proud of you guys. You\u2019ve done all the hard work.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should be really proud of your mum and dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he said: \u201cYou\u2019re going to help a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prince gave the centre a coffee machine, after asking beforehand if there was anything else they needed.<\/p>\n

He left it with a note which read: \u201cWishing everyone a well deserved moment of pause. I hope this brings a little warmth to your day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs Burrow said: \u201cIt such a special day for the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have the prince come and open the centre is a really special day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RoyalThe Prince of Wales was welcomed by rugby union coach Kevin Sinfield, as he arrives to officially open the centre at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds (Temilade Adelaja\/PA)<\/p>\n

Mrs Burrow said: \u201cRob asked him \u2018would you come and open the centre\u2019, and he\u2019s kept his word.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo to have him here today is a huge honour and privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI think it just shows his kindness and consideration.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wrote to us after we lost Rob and it was a really heartfelt message. And that\u2019s something we take a lot of comfort from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sinfield said: \u201cI think he\u2019s a man of his word and he\u2019s been a massive supporter of the work we\u2019ve done, the running we\u2019ve done, the campaigning we\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cRob would have been so proud of it (the centre). He would\u2019ve loved to have seen it today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rugby star will begin the latest of his challenges on December 1.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cTo get to see this when we\u2019re about 10 days before we go again, just adds more fuel. It shows what can be created when people come together for a great cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking at the event, William said: \u201cHaving met the family and Kevin and Rob in January 2024 for the first time in a very sweaty, smelly Leeds rugby changing room it\u2019s been my pleasure to get to know them and follow their journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, frankly, we\u2019re stood in one of the most incredible buildings, that\u2019s been fundraised and supported by a few individuals who\u2019ve gone above and beyond to make MND finally on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RoyalThe Prince of Wales with Dr Agam Jung, as he meets clinical researchers in the tech room at the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease (Temilade Adelaja\/PA)<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI\u2019m honoured to be here today and see it up and running in just over a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn incredible fundraising effort by a huge team of people has gone into this. None more so than Kevin.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis knees and his hips have taken a battering but he\u2019s raised over 40% of this fundraising total, which is incredible. I just can\u2019t commend enough people who have put this together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds (Danny Lawson\/PA)<\/p>\n

Addressing the family, William said: \u201cI think Rob\u2019s legacy will live on.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you guys should be so proud of your father because he really was an incredibly brave and very special man.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this is a world-leading centre that\u2019s going to save a lot of lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor that you shall all be very proud. And everyone is very grateful for letting us in on your family life and understanding what you\u2019ve been managing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA painting of Rob Burrow being embraced by Kevin Sinfield at the opening of the centre (Danny Lawson\/PA)<\/p>\n

Burrow\u2019s son Jackson rang the bell that has heralded all of Sinfield\u2019s epic fundraising challenges, as the royal visitor unveiled a plaque to mark the opening.<\/p>\n

The centre has been designed around Burrow\u2019s determination to create a place that treats patients as people, not conditions, and places them and their families at its heart.<\/p>\n

\"RobRob Burrow died in 2024, four years after his diagnosis of motor neurone disease (Danny Lawson\/PA)<\/p>\n

It is the first purpose-built centre dedicated entirely to MND care, research, education and holistic support in the UK, and those behind it hope it will be followed by similar units around the country.<\/p>\n

The centre been made possible thanks to a \u00a36.8 million fundraising campaign, led by Leeds Hospitals Charity and supported by Burrow\u2019s friend Sinfield, and has been completed less than 18 months after Burrow\u2019s death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"William met Burrow\u2019s three children \u2013 Macy, Maya and Jackson \u2013 his wife Lindsey, and his fundraising team-mate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-582732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-leeds","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115582625068416509","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}