The legacy of Rob Burrow across Staffordshire and Cheshire

Experts in motor neurone disease say the passing of rugby star Rob Burrow has dramatically increased awareness and conversation about the condition in the short time since his death.

The 41-year-old died on 2nd June 2024 after being diagnosed with the disease in December 2019. At the time of his death he had raised over £6m for MND awareness and treatment charities.

"He was an inspiration to everyone really. An inspiration to our clinical teams and to our MND patients. Even to the MND community as a whole. He really put it out there and his name will continue to come up." said Martin Booth, MND researcher at Royal Stoke Hospital.

MND is an incurable condition which affects the brain and the nerves, causing muscle weakness which gets worse over time. The condition is known to significantly reduce life expectancy, eventually leading to death.

Now, on Global MND Awareness Day, the MND Association has revealed 45,000 people visited their website on the day of Rob Burrow's death; searching for information about the rugby star and symptoms of the rare condition. It's a 2,150% increase compared with the usual traffic to the site, and 44,000 of those visitors had never previously used the web page.

Michele Quaile is the co-ordinator of MDN Care & Research at UHNM Royal Stoke Hospital.

"He put his struggles out there so people could see what he was going through, that is inspirational - and it was challenging to put your life when you're going through something like that for others to witness. It is a hard disease to go through. He is inspirational to our patients and it's had a knock-on effect.

"They can take a part of Rob's journey and relate it to themselves, whether it be he was in a wheelchair or that he had a young family, or the challenges communicating."

In his final statement, shared on the BBC, Rob said: "By the time that you watch this I will no longer be here. I am just a lad from Yorkshire who got to live out his dream of playing rugby league. As a father of three young children, I would never want any family to have to go through what my family have since my diagnosis. I hope I have left a mark on the disease. I hope it shows to live in the moment. I hope you find inspiration from the whole story. I hope one day we find a cure and live in a world free of MND. My final message to you is, whatever your personal battle, be brave and face it. Every single day is precious. Don’t waste a moment. In a world full of adversity we must still dare to dream. Rob Burrow, over and out.”

Martin at Royal Stoke Hospital concluded: "Also the money he raised for the MND association is just going to be able to research as well, which is just so needed because we only have one treatment."

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