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Rob Burrow: Leeds Rhinos online fund tops £100,000 after MND diagnosis

Leeds Rhinos Rob Burrow opens up about the diagnosis

A fund to support a former rugby league star who has motor neurone disease (MND) has raised more than £100,000.

Leeds Rhinos legend Rob Burrow, 37, won eight Grand Finals, three World Club Challenges and two Challenge Cups in 17 years with the Super League side.

By Friday evening, more than 5,000 donors have given to an online appeal launched on Thursday by the Leeds Rugby Foundation.

The money will support his treatment and his wife and three young children.

Leeds Rhinos thanked "everyone who has shown their love and support" for Burrow.

Burrow is the club's reserve team coach, having led the Rhinos Academy team for the past two seasons.

He retired from playing at the end of the 2017 season having been capped 15 times by England and playing five Tests for Great Britain.

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Richard Sellers/Press Association Rob BurrowRichard Sellers/Press Association

Burrow said: "I'm going to get stuck into it, a bit like my career I was doubted and written off a few times so I'm really positive, taking the challenge and that's the best way to be.

"It was a numbing moment, but a week further on [from the diagnosis] I'm in a decent place."

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MND is a degenerative condition that affects how nerves in the brain and the spinal cord function. There is currently no cure.

Scotland rugby union great Doddie Weir, who revealed in June 2017 that he had been diagnosed with MND, has met Burrow since his diagnosis.

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