Sycamore Gap Sapling to Symbolize Hope at Rob Burrow MND Centre

The National Trust has allocated 49 saplings to various charities throughout the UK, stemming from the Sycamore Gap tree that was felled on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland in September 2023. Among the recipients of these saplings, under the Trees of Hope project, is the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease. Ian Flatt, who lives with motor neurone disease (MND), submitted the request for the Leeds centre to acquire one of these trees. He noted numerous links between this initiative and the future work of the MND Centre. Mr. Flatt stated: “With the Burrow family and other patients we’ve created the Walk of Hope, which is hand prints in concrete and I thought wouldn’t it be lovely if we had a Tree of Hope at the end of that.“But also there’s so many synergies between the message of the tree and the beacon of hope that the MND Centre in Leeds has become for us. “And, of course, Rob and his family – how much hope they’ve given us.”” Mr. Flatt learned of the Trees of Hope project via BBC Breakfast and expressed being “absolutely overjoyed” upon learning of their successful application. He recounted: “They emailed us and the first line was ‘there’s an embargo on it and you can’t tell anybody’. And I was absolutely bursting. I was so overjoyed.” He articulated that hope forms the essence of the MND community. “Hope is every day. Hope can be massive or it can be small things that I hope for. “We all hope for a cure or at least a treatment for this disease and we all believe we’re getting there and that’s coming closer and closer.“As Rob once said, it gives us so many reasons to live because we can walk alongside this disease and we can carry on still enjoying our lives and living for hope every day,” he explained. Rob Burrow, a Leeds Rhinos rugby player, passed away on 2 June at the age of 41. He had received an MND diagnosis in December 2019. Together with his teammate Kevin Sinfield, he generated over £15m for charities dedicated to MND. The Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease is designated to be located at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds. This past Sunday, Sinfield commenced his initial fundraising endeavour following Burrow’s death, a 230-mile run scheduled over seven days. Mr. Flatt expressed his anticipation of joining Sinfield in Hull on Thursday for a segment of the event. He commented: “What Kev is doing starting this weekend gives us so much hope.“I wish him all the best with that and I’m looking forward to seeing him on Thursday.””