IT was the moment Lindsey Burrow knew that her rugby hero husband had succumbed to the disease that left him a prisoner in his own body. Trapped in a silent world, unable to communicate and -paralysed by motor neurone -disease, Rob, 41, lay hooked up to a hospital ventilator after developing pneumonia. The sportsman, who helped raise more than £20million for MND charities after being diagnosed with the devastating condition four years earlier, was determinedly refusing medication, physio or even a sip of water. With her heart breaking, Lindsey took a deep breath and asked her childhood sweetheart: “Rob, I know you’re really tired. Have you had enough?” After a few moments, punctuated only by the whirring of -hospital machines, Rob cast his eyes to the left. It was his simple way of communicating — left for yes, right for no. The man who had stormed rugby league as its smallest player at 5ft 5in, who had put himself front and centre to raise awareness of MND, hiding his pain behind a trademark smile, could go on no longer. “I wanted to cry,” says Lindsey. “I knew what I was asking and I needed to know that it was really what he wanted. “I just held him in my arms for a long time until he fell asleep. I thought I might howl with the pain but he’d had enough. He’d fought his battle.” POIGNANT MEMORIES In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Lindsey today reveals her family’s last days with Rob, who became the face of MND, a rare condition that affects the brain and nerves, causing weakness and muscle-wasting. Despite their sorrow, she tells how the family were able to make eternal, poignant memories in the days leading up to Rob’s death on June 2 last year. The night before Rob died, Lindsey placed a DVD player in his room at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, West Yorks, so they could watch their wedding video one final time. On the TV Lindsey looked resplendent in a white gown and tiara as she and Rob whirled their way through their first dance, (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life, from the movie Dirty Dancing. Then the couple’s children, Macy, 13, Maya, nine, and Jackson, six, gently painted their dad’s fingers with rainbow-coloured ink so they could capture his imprints for memory books. Lindsey, 42, says: “We found a way to make those last hours memorable. “Rob and I, with his mum Irene and sisters Claire and Joanne, watched our wedding video and we teased him about his dancing. “The girls were at a musical show they had spent months rehearsing. Rob had indicated he still wanted them to go. “When they came back, the girls and Jackson sat with their dad as he watched a recording of their performances. “It really lifted Rob. He had a big smile, watching the girls on stage, and they came back from the show that night and painted his fingers. Rob was very drowsy but was still with us. He just wanted to spend as long as he could with the children. “Macy made a little tree picture out of his fingerprints. The nurses had given the children tiny knitted hearts and bears which they used to surround his tree. “He still managed to smile right to the very end. He always had that infectious smile and just set an example to us all — he gave hope to so many.” Lindsey has written a book about her life with Rob, called Take Care, which is being exclusively serialised in The Sun. It seemed unimaginable to the couple’s families that Rob, the indomitable scrum-half for Leeds Rhinos, could fall victim to such a terrible condition, so his diagnosis in December 2019 came as a massive shock. He was 37 with three children under the age of eight when told he might have only two years to live. The causes of MND are largely unknown — something Rob became keenly aware of after his diagnosis, pushing himself uncomfortably into the public eye to raise awareness. I thought I might howl with the pain but he’d had enough. He’d fought his battleLindsey Burrow Within weeks of his diagnosis, he “banked” recordings of his voice for a synthetic speech machine so he could communicate with loved ones. Operated by eye movements, it was similar to that used by fellow MND sufferer Professor Stephen Hawking. Rob’s courage saw him awarded an MBE in 2022 and he and rugby pal Kevin Sinfield, who has run thousands of miles to fundraise for research and patient support, received CBE honours from Prince William in January last year. In May 2023, the friends shared an incredible moment when Kevin pushed his pal around the Leeds Marathon course before carrying him over the finishing line. The images went around the world, becoming a symbol of enduring hope, and Lindsey says: “Rob was really brave and courageous to share his story. “He was such a private family man, so for him to open his doors and let the world see just how brutal MND is — it takes a really rare -person to do that. “He wanted to do it to raise awareness for the bricklayer, the postman, for the people who had the disease but didn’t have a voice.” In Take Care, Lindsey tells how Rob’s health started to deteriorate further in March last year. He had been able to send Lindsey texts, but they began to become muddled, and by May he could no longer message her, leaving her feeling extremely lonely. Lindsey, an NHS physiotherapist, writes in her book: “I missed hearing Rob steady me when I was worried about one of the kids or feeling tired after a long day of difficult consultations at work. “I missed hearing him kid around with the girls or speaking softly to Jackson. “I missed hearing him laugh. I felt lonely — but it was nothing compared to Rob’s isolation in a prison of his own silence and stillness. “MND is brutal. It ravages its -victims, mentally and emotionally. Even Rob, with his mighty heroism, finally began to buckle.” In mid-April 2024, while he could still text, Rob typed a message to his wife which read: “I’m finding it hard to fight MND.” Lindsey writes: “It came out of the blue and my heart cracked a little as I read the seven words. I walked across to Rob, feeling the magnitude of the moment when I saw he had become tearful. “It was the first time he had cried in years.” She begged Rob to keep fighting, reminding him of his strength and positivity, saying: “Hold on darling, OK?” She writes: “Rob’s pale blue eyes brimmed with anguish. But he knew I needed an answer and after a long pause, he turned his gaze to the left. And then I felt my breaking heart soar when he smiled.” Despite his indefatigable nature, by May, just weeks before Rob’s death, Lindsey says she sensed the family had entered a “dark zone, a limbo between life and death”. Yet Rob insisted on still going for days out with his children whenever he was up to it and the couple shared a special moment with the kids a week before he died. Rob had lived downstairs at their home in Pontefract, West Yorks, for two years after it became too much for Lindsey to carry him up to their bed every night. But sensing they were on borrowed time, that night she carried him upstairs to their home cinema room to watch the Timothee Chalamet movie Wonka together. Lindsey writes: “I knew Rob was too unwell to watch another film ever again. But the last movie of his life, at home with me and the kids in our new cinema room, felt as special as it was moving.” The next day Rob was taken into hospital for the final time. BORROWED TIME Today, as Lindsey sits surrounded by their beautiful children, she still misses Rob acutely. She says: “It’s been a really tough time. We always knew the day would come... but he had such a fighting spirit that he was never going to give in until his last breath. “We knew it would come — but lived in hope it wouldn’t. “It’s the simple things I miss, like I think, ‘I’ll just message Rob’, or I walk in and expect his machine to ask if I’ve had a good day, or tell the kids he loves them. “But in true Rob spirit, he taught us how to live in the moment and make the most of life, and despite his suffering, he showed us how to be positive, how to be brave. “I feel I owe it to him to continue his legacy. Rob would not want us to be sad all the time. “He never had any self-pity, he never felt sorry for himself and I am determined to make Rob proud and continue to raise awareness and fundraise for this terrible disease.” Lindsey says Macy, Maya and Jackson — who is the image of his dad — keep her going every day. “They wake up every morning with beautiful smiles,” she says. “The children were always at the centre of everything Rob and I did, and they will always be. “I want to give them the happiest childhood and my job now is to bring them up exactly as Rob would have wanted.” He still managed to smile right to the very end. He always had that infectious smile and just set an example to us all.Lindsey Burrow Asked if she could ever imagine remarrying, Lindsey looks away before saying sadly: “There will never be anyone other than Rob. “We were childhood sweethearts and had known each other since we were teenagers. “There’s only one Rob Burrow, isn’t there? They don’t make them like Rob any more.” Take Care: A Memoir Of Love, Family & Never Giving Up, by Lindsey Burrow, is published by Century on -February 27, priced £22. © Lindsey -Burrow 2025.