‘I’m proud to help but it’s tough’: Rob Burrow’s wife opens up about heartbreaking challenges of caring for husband
1 February 2024, 21:56
Rob Burrow’s wife has opened up about the ‘emotional and physical strain’ of caring for her husband who has motor neurone disease.
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Rob, 41, was diagnosed with MND in 2019. He now needs round-the-clock care, which his wife Lindsey provides.
Lindsey, 40, who has been married to her teenage sweetheart Rob since 2006, cares for her husband while also looking after their three children and working as a physiotherapist for the NHS.
Now in a new documentary, Lindsey has spoken about her life as an unpaid carer.
She said: “Being a carer is tough, and it has huge emotional and physical challenges, I think a lot of carers that you speak to, they'll say that you lose friends.”
“I've been an unpaid carer for almost five years.
“My husband Rob was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in December 2019, since then, I've balanced caring for Rob while caring for our three young children and continuing to work for the NHS as a physiotherapist.
Read more: Rob Burrow's daughters help him finish Leeds run on Father's Day
“But although I'm proud to be able to do that, it's had a huge impact on my life,” she tells the documentary Lindsey Burrow: Who Cares For Our Carers?
In the documentary, Lindsey speaks to unpaid carers across the country who provide an estimated £162 billion a year of care.
Rob, who is now non-verbal, can only eat liquidised food spoon-fed to him by Lindsey, who is the mother of his three children.
They share three children, Jackson, four, Maya, eight and Macy, 11.
Earlier last month, Rob Burrow and his rugby league pal Kevin Sinfield were awarded CBEs for their work to raise money for MND.
Sinfield famously carried his childhood friend Burrow over the finish line during the Leeds Marathon last year, picking him up out of his wheelchair.
Prince William gave the pair their CBEs in a surprise in-person trip in January.
"I've brought a special couple of things up with me to give you today," William said.
"I did check with Kevin to make sure you didn't want to go down to London to receive this, but I brought your CBEs up here to give to you today if that's okay, while you're in your home, in Leeds, surrounded by your family and friends. I thought today was a good day."
He told Burrow: "The most amount of thank yous and congratulations for all the inspirational work you've done Rob, you've been amazing and everyone's so proud of you.
