A former professional athlete whose life-changing disease diagnosis kick-started a fundraising campaign, including the naming of a charitable rose with Harkness Roses, has been proudly named a CBE.
Rob Burrow, a former professional rugby league player for Leeds Rhinos and England, was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in 2019, just two years after ending his playing career.
The once scrum half is now a charity champion for the MND Association, an organisation focused on improving access to care, funding research, and campaigning for those living with, or affected by, MND. Since his diagnosis, Rob, and fellow rugby league legend Kevin Sinfield, have raised more than £15m for charities.
Their incredible fund-raising and awareness efforts have this year seen the duo awarded their CBEs, presented to them by Prince William at Headingley Stadium, home of Leeds Rhinos, where Rob and Kevin played together for many years.
As part of Rob Burrow’s charity efforts, we were proud to launch The Rob Burrow MND Rose at the 2023 edition of the Hampton Court Flower Show.
This is a bush rose with soft apricot flowers of up to 40 petals, coating a plant of dark green and glossy foliage, bushy and upright. The flowers truly are beautiful, releasing a myrrh scent as they repeatedly bloom across summer and into autumn, ideal for beds, borders, or a big pot on the patio.
The Rob Burrow MND Rose is available to purchase from Harkness Roses either as an established plant in a 3-4L pot, or as a bare root. For each sale of this rose, we are proud to donate £2.50 to the MND Association (registered charity no. 294354).
About MND
Rob is one of an estimated 5,000 adults in the UK currently living with MND. Each day, an average of six people are diagnosed with MND.
MND is a fatal, rapidly progressing disease which affects the brain and spinal cord. It attacks the nerves that control movement and eventually leaves people unable to move, communicate or breathe. It kills a third of people within a year of diagnosis and half within two years. There is no cure. The MND Association have made it their mission to help those with the disease, and those closest to them, to provide support in those darkest times.