Leeds Rhinos legend Rob Burrow has been battling Motor Neurone Disease since he was diagnosed in December 2019.
Since then he has raised money and awareness in the fight against MND and has pushed for funding from the government securing a £50 million sum.
However, that money is yet to be released and Burrow has now said that the government has blood on their hands for not being swifter with the funds.
Speaking on BBC, Burrow said: “I’ve heard it is curable but underfunded in the past, with the money supposedly coming from the government, the money Kev has raised, over £6 million, would start it off but this Tory government has blood on their hands because it kills six people every day.”
It comes after Burrow’s good friend and former skipper Kevin Sinfield, on the back of his latest challenge in striving for funding and awareness in the fight against MND, said this:
“I wouldn’t say anger, I’ve got some disappointment because they have been lost and left for so long.
“Something I think about regularly, this has been a huge part of my life for a couple of years as has spending time with Rob.
“My concern is if that campaign hadn’t started a couple of years ago, where would we be?
“Rob and co have done brilliant work with government to secure £50 million in funding but why hasn’t that funding been handed over yet?
“I understand that with anything like this, there is an element of red tape but then I look at some of the other ways they have spent money and I don’t think they have been scrutinised in the same way this has. That’s what I don’t understand disappoints me because there is people dying and families are being ravaged and being left.
“I can’t see any valid reason why this money is being held back. This is important that this comes across and the scientists work together and we move the dial forward.
“The £50 million is for research and there is nothing in there that helps families and all those other things that people don’t think of.”
