A powerful image shows the wife of former rugby league player Rob Burrow carrying her husband, who suffer from Motor Neurone Disease, around their home.
Lindsey, who has been married to teenage sweetheart Rob for 17 years, refuses carers and equipment to care for her husband herself - lifting him around their home and into the car.
The emotional photograph has been shared one month after Rob's former teammate Kevin Sinfield carried him across the finish line at Leed Marathon after pushing him for more than 26 miles.
Lindsey, 40, has since called for Kevin to be given a knighthood for his publicity-raising efforts, the Mirror reports. Rob, also 40, was diagnosed with MND in 2019 and has dropped to just 7st.
Devoted wife Lindsey, the mother of their three young children, only recently moved his bed downstairs because she could no longer manage the stairs safely.
“While I’m physically able, I will continue to do that for Rob, and I know he’d do the same for me,” she said.
“We haven’t really discussed the option of carers. We don’t want stairlifts, hoists and things, for me it can become quite clinical.
"You just want to do what you can, while you can, for as long as you can. He’s my husband, I want to care for him. You say those vows, in sickness and in health, that’s what you want to do.
“He’ll often say, ‘Thank you for looking after me, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you doing these things’. I know how grateful he is.
“It’s not easy being a carer, but when I look at what Rob has had taken from him I’ve nothing to moan about.”
Superstar Leeds Rhinos and England player Rob bravely opened up about the degenerative condition to raise awareness of the condition which affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord.
Millions have been raised for MND research and care thanks to Rob, Lindsey and Kevin tirelessly fundraising.
“Rob will always be a hero in our eyes,” says Lindsey, who met the “shy teenager” aged 15
A new ITV documentary, Lindsey and Rob: Living with MND, captures the couple's journey and will air on Wednesday.
Lindsey spends her time caring for Rob and her children Macy, 11, Maya, seven, and Jackson, three, at their home in Castleford, West Yorks, while working one day a week as a NHS physiotherapist.
She even completed the Leeds Marathon and has entered the Yorkshire Marathon, in October.
“Rob said he couldn’t be more proud,” she smiles.
Rob refuses to hear a prognosis after initially being given two years to live and he has now lost the ability to talk. He uses his eyes to spell messages on a screen as he retains no voluntary movement control.
He can only eat liquidised food because he struggles to swallow and some nights, he requires a ventilator to reduce high levels of carbon dioxide in his body. A build-up can be fatal for MND sufferers.
“I don’t think he can really get any worse,” Lindsey admits.
She has coaxed him to speak briefly about his end-of-life wishes.
“I know roughly, he knows what type of music he’d like. He’s a big Michael Jackson fan. Rob has said I’m still young, I should find someone else. He just wants us to be happy. But he’s still here, still fighting and I know I upset him when I ask those questions.”
Yet he rarely shows fear or depression. “He doesn’t confide in me about struggling,” admits Lindsey.
She recalls his tears after diagnosis. But a couple of weeks later he visited Doddie Weir, the Scottish rugby union player also diagnosed with MND, who died last year.
“It was a turning point, he instilled so much hope and inspiration,” she says. “Rob came back, saying, ‘Right, we tackle this head on, no more tears.’”
Lindsey doesn’t allow him to see her upset, either. “Crying is not going to change the situation, I’d rather make happy memories and spend time happy with Rob,” she insists.
“I look at the legacy Rob has created, and I hope my children will think, ‘Look what Daddy did’, hopefully it will help us through difficult times.”
Her youngest Jackson, aged one when Rob was diagnosed, struggles to understand. “He will ask, ‘When will Daddy not have MND?’” she reveals. The girls grasp more. In the documentary, Macy speaks of her daddy “taking his last breath”.
“Rob is so determined to fight, they see that fighting spirit, you have to give them hope, so we will continue to fight with him,” she says.
Lindsey says spending time with the children keeps Rob happy and he enjoys Father’s Day when they push him around a 1.5km race. Touchingly, they bring him drinks and daughter Macy ensures his comfort by placing cushions on his arms.
On Valentine’s Day, Rob ordered Lindsey flowers and she still talks to him every day.
“Rob is still the man I married, he’s just in a body that doesn’t function,” she says. “I married for life, we’d that vision of growing old together. Our time will be cut short but that doesn’t stop us enjoying that time.”
* Lindsey and Rob: Living with MND, tonight, 8.30pm, ITV1 and ITVX.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
