Barrie McDermott gives update on Rob Burrow’s health as he talks about marathon

On Sunday we saw the amazing Rob Burrow Marathon as Kevin Sinfield and Rob Burrow ran together with Sinfield carrying Burrow over the finish line.

They were joined by other Leeds legends including Barrie McDermott who guest appeared on BBC Five Live this week and spoke about how emotional the event was.

“I did the half with my son and my daughter, who never ran that distance before, but we were moved to do it,” McDermott said.

“Obviously we’re all family friends and they wanted to do it for Rob. They wanted to be part of the day.

“The bodies at the end though with the people who said, ‘I want to do it because I’m inspired by Rob and Kev’, and it was people who probably didn’t have the athletic ability or just weren’t up to it but they felt like they had to have a go at it.

“There were bodies scattered all over the place near the end. But a wonderful day, really inspiring.

“I must have cried three times yesterday and I’m not a blubberer normally me. I started losing it a little bit at the beginning of the half, because there was a message read out from Rob and it just is moving.

“Everything that’s going on just moves people into action. I wish we didn’t have to do it, I wish we didn’t have to raise money for our little mate and it was already taken care of but what Kev’s doing and what everybody that does their little bit does, whether it’s a pound or a million pound, is makes everybody sit up and listen and do something about it.”

He also gave an update on Burrow’s condition:

“Well, he’s okay. When people ask me, I say he’s okay. He has his peaks and his troughs.

“Some days he’s bright-eyed and full of banter. You get good conversations with him through his little box that he has. Then other days he’s heavily medicated or tired and you can see he’s really struggling.”

McDermott also praised Burrow’s wife Lindsey for all she has done:

“I spoke to Lindsey yesterday and seeing when Lindsay finished, because I know how much she’s put into what she’s doing and everybody talks about Kev, everybody talks about Rob, but really quickly you go right on to Lindsay because of the amazing woman that she is.

“She runs the house, she runs the kids, she obviously does what she needs to do for Rob and she has a full commitment to her job as well. She’s a physio so I think that’s a bit of a respite for her but nevertheless she has so many things going on.

“Her life’s a thousand miles an hour so when you talk about Rob and you ask how Rob is, I think Rob heavily relies on the people around him. Geoff and Irene, his mum and dad, his sisters, the full family network look after him.

“I know he was really tired last night. It was very sunny and while they were running round, he only really has two ways of communicating. He has a smile and a wink.

“The lads were asking him, are you in pain? Are you comfortable? Do we need to move you? Are you okay to carry on? Those conversations were happening all the way around and it was again peaks and troughs for him.

“The reality of MND is it’s a disease that’s only going in one direction so the end is inevitable and Rob knows that, but what Rob’s very conscious of doing is this time here and the time on the earth that he’s got left he wants to make a maximum impact so fully focused on whatever’s coming for him next.