Rob Burrow and his wife Lindsay Burrow launched a new exhibition yesterday looking at the lives of people living with Motor Neurone Disease. Rob was diagnosed with the condition in 2019 and has since gone on to raise awareness through his own foundation and helped bring MND better into the public eye.
The exhibition will tell the stories of seven people living with MND, all of which were at Leeds Station on Friday morning, where Rob and Lindsay did the unveiling. There were a number of hospital workers, care staff, doctors and family members affected by the condition.
One woman at the exhibition, doctor Louise Jordan, was there with her partner Rob, Louise, 61, who was diagnosed with MND in 2021. Doctor Jordan had Covid in March 2020 and noticed a few months later that her speech had began to slur.
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Her speech became so poor that she now has to rely on a tablet to talk to people, just typing out the words she wants to say. Louise saw a range of specialists, and a neurologist diagnosed her with primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) - a rare form of MND.
Louise said: "I am now unable to speak at all. My swallowing is hampered, my sleep is disturbed as I wake often when my cheeks collapse in my mouth.
"Each day, a new problem arises that needs circumnavigating. My partner Rob is amazing but very distressed by my deterioration. My two sons lost their father to a brain tumour in 2011, so it’s very unfair on them.
"As a GP, I have been absolutely committed to my patients to improve their quality of life. I am now on the other side of the coin.
"Frustration and humiliation are my biggest emotions - even more than my sadness, which is pretty overwhelming at times.
"My motivation is for my family not to lose another member, and to do what I can to support this amazing cause. MND is the very illness I, and my medical colleagues, would put at the top of the "illnesses I never want to experience" list.
"The new Rob Burrow Centre for MND will be a huge source of hope, comfort and positivity. "
The exhibition will tour key locations in Leeds to help raise awareness and funds for Leeds Hospitals Charity’s appeal to build the new Rob Burrow Centre for MND.
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