The Rob Burrow Center for Motor Neurone Disease opens 17 months after death of rugby league star in Leeds | Rugby League News

The Rob Burrow Center for Motor Neurone Disease (MND) has been hailed as a ‘transformative moment in care’ for everyone affected by the disease at its official opening.

The center at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds was the dream of the late rugby league star Rob Burrow and his advisor Dr Agam Jung and is the first purpose-built center dedicated entirely to ALS care, research, education and holistic support in the UK.

The centre, which opens on Monday, has been made possible thanks to a £6.8 million fundraising campaign led by Leeds Hospitals Charity and supported by Burrow’s friend and former Leeds Rhinos teammate Kevin Sinfield.

To date, more than 17,000 donors have contributed to the center and patients, their families, clinical specialists and the wider ALS community are all involved in its creation.

Construction work was completed less than 18 months after Burrow died in June 2024.

Dr. Jung, a consultant neurologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and director of the centre, said it stems from Burrow’s determination to create a place where patients are treated as people, and not conditions.

He said: “It has been five years since the idea to build this center emerged – a legacy of Rob’s strength, the support of his family and the compassion of an entire community.

“I am so grateful to so many people who worked together to make this dream a reality.

“I was really pleased when Rob fully embraced the Leeds MND Service ethos of ‘Living in the Now’.

“He wanted to leave a legacy for people to do this, and this has spread throughout the MND community.

“All of us working at this incredible new center will focus on providing the very best care and community for families and patients to do just that.”

Chief executive of Leeds Hospitals Charity, Esther Wakeman, said: “When we launched the fundraising appeal with Dr Jung and the Burrow family in September 2021, we could never have imagined the support it would receive, from across the country.

“In just three years we were able to reach our target of £6.8 million.

“We would like to extend a special thank you to Kevin Sinfield for his heroic fundraising, going above and beyond in honor of his friendship with Rob, and he is taking on his latest challenge again this year.

“He inspired so many people.”

Sally Hughes, director of services and partnerships at the MND Association, said the center “marks a transformative moment in the care of people with MND in Leeds and across West Yorkshire”.

She said: “This purpose-built facility, inspired by our late patron, will provide a supportive and compassionate environment for everyone affected by ALS – for the person diagnosed and also for their family, which is so important when faced with such a life-changing disease.”

Burrow died at the age of 41 after a four-and-a-half-year battle with MND.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the MND center went ahead on the day his death was announced, with his family saying he would “look down and smile”.