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"I'm a prisoner in my own body": Rob Burrow's heartbreaking last message

<p>An emotional final message from rugby legend Rob Burrow has been released in the days after his death. </p> <p>The former footballer <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/health/caring/rugby-league-hero-dies-at-just-41" target="_blank" rel="noopener">died</a> at the age of 41 on Sunday after a lengthy battle with motor neurone disease, with his former club, the Leeds Rhinos, sharing the news of his passing. </p> <p>Before he died, Burrow was involved in the making of a documentary about his life by the BBC, titled <em>There's Only One Burrow</em>, only agreeing to appear in the program on the condition it only be used after his death.</p> <p>In the documentary, Burrow spoke of how the cruel disease impacted his life and how he hoped to raise awareness for MND research.</p> <p>"I want to live in a world free of MND. By the time you watch this I will no longer be here," he said in the video.</p> <p>"In a world full of adversity, we must still dare to dream. I'm just a lad from Yorkshire who got to live out his dream of playing rugby league."</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7xPgSxM6lY/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7xPgSxM6lY/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by BBC SPORT (@bbcsport)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>His pre-recorded final words were shown to his friends and family on screen, reacting to his words.</p> <p>"I'm a fighter, to be honest. I might not be able to tackle MND but I'll certainly be swinging, I'm not going to give in, not until my last breath," he said.</p> <p>"I'm a prisoner in my own body, that's the way MND gets you. The lights are on but no one is home."</p> <p>Recalling his diagnosis, he said, "My family told me I was slurring my speech a bit but I didn't take notice or believe them."</p> <p>In an emotional segment of the widow, Burrow's wife Lindsey spoke of how she learnt of her husband's devastating disease.</p> <p>"I remember that moment being told it's not good news. Asking how long and them saying two years. Rob said 'thank god it's me and not the kids'. That's all he was bothered about," she recalled.</p> <p>When asked about his children, Burrow became emotional, saying, "I had no idea how my family would cope. They've become a beacon of hope for families in the same situation as ours." </p> <p>"I have had such a great life. I have been gifted with the most incredible wife and three children. I hope they know how much I love them."</p> <p>Burrows finishes the piece, saying. "As a father of three young children, I would never want someone to go through this."</p> <p>"I hope I have left a mark on this disease. I hope you choose to live in the moment. I hope you find inspiration."</p> <p>"My final message to you is whatever your personal battle to be brave and face it."</p> <p>"Every single day is precious. Don't waste a moment. In a world full of adversity we must still dare to dream. Rob Burrow over and out."</p> <p><em>Image credits: BBC</em></p>

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Tales of wombat "heroes" are unfortunately not true

<p>If you’ve been following the bushfire crisis on social media and elsewhere, you may have seen reports of <a href="https://www.unilad.co.uk/animals/wombats-share-their-burrows-with-animals-displaced-in-bushfires/">benevolent wombats</a> herding other animals to shelter into their fire-proof burrows.</p> <p>These stories went quickly viral – probably reflecting the appetite for good news after the horrors of the bushfire crisis. However the accounts are not entirely accurate.</p> <p>Wombats do not heroically round up helpless animals during a bushfire and lead them to safety. But wombats do help other animals in a different way – even if it’s not their intention.</p> <p><strong>Accidental heroes</strong></p> <p>Wombats can emerge as accidental heroes during a bushfire, by providing a safe refuge underground for other wildlife.</p> <p>Wombat warrens – networks of interconnecting burrows – are large and complex, and considerably shielded from the above-ground environment. Small mammals are known to <a href="https://media.australianmuseum.net.au/media/dd/Uploads/Documents/38347/ams370_vXVIII_05_LowRes.ffb19ac.pdf">use wombat burrows</a> to survive an inferno.</p> <p><a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1017/S0952836902001620">One study</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_hairy-nosed_wombat">southern hairy-nosed wombat</a>, for instance, found warrens with 28 entrances and nearly 90 metres of tunnels.</p> <p>What’s more, temperatures deep within burrows are very stable compared to surface temperatures, with daily temperature fluctuations of less than <a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1017/S0952836902001620">1℃, compared to 24℃</a> on the surface.</p> <p>This thermal buffering would help a great deal during intense fires, and you can understand why other species would want access to these safe havens.</p> <p><strong>The wombat sharehouse</strong></p> <p>By placing camera traps outside 34 wombat burrows, <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/am/am15052">a 2015 study</a> showed a surprising variety of animals using southern hairy-nosed wombat burrows. Researchers observed ten other species, six of which used them on multiple occasions.</p> <p>The intruders ranged from rock wallabies and <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/2784/21961179">bettongs</a> to skinks and birds. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_penguin">Little penguins</a> were recorded using burrows 27 times, while the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/16751/21955343">black-footed rock wallaby</a> was observed using wombat burrows more often than wombats – nearly 2,000 visits in eight weeks! They were even observed using the burrows to specifically avoid birds of prey.</p> <p>But wombats aren’t alone in providing real estate for other species. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinifex_hopping_mouse">Hopping mice</a>, <a href="https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:0d4c9c0c-51d3-44e0-a365-fe0f8b791c66">echidnas</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eremiascincus">sand swimming skinks</a>, <a href="https://www.ridgeandvalleyreptiles.com/nephrurus-milli.html">barking geckoes</a> and numerous invertebrates <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140196308001821">were found</a> using the warrens of bettongs and bilbies in arid Australia.</p> <p><strong>Anybody home?</strong></p> <p>It’s also important to recognise wombats don’t have “a burrow”. Rather, they have <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/wr/wr07067">multiple burrows</a> within their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_range">home range</a>. In fact, a 2012 study tracked one wombat to <a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2011.00881.x">14 different burrows</a>.</p> <p>While wombats are often regarded as quite sedentary, <a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2011.00881.x?casa_token=SiuOr4VY07oAAAAA%3AQNnJyBxVubXbqq27P9j_Z6-fqIsTD0NE1rdU9OGlifTq2v53Ti6eJWPCAc77wljbRgYCzinXHVRiWv_Jyw">another study</a> found the average home range size of common wombats is 172 hectares.</p> <p>They spend <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/zo/ZO02061">a few nights</a> sleeping in one burrow, before moving onto another.</p> <p>Since each wombat has multiple burrows, many can be vacant within a home range, and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320707001048">abandoned burrows</a> are common in some areas. <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/wr/Fulltext/WR07067">A 2007 study</a> showed that even among “active” burrows (those with signs of recent use), only one in three are actually occupied by a wombat at any given time.</p> <p>This means, at times, other species may not need to share burrows with wombats at all. It’s vacant real estate.</p> <p>So how might a wombat react to an uninvited guest? This is difficult to know, and likely depends on who’s visiting. Wombats prefer not to share burrows with other wombats, although burrow sharing <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/zo/ZO02061">can be common</a> when wombat populations are very high in one place.</p> <p>In her book <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/6088/">Wombats</a>, Barbara Triggs recalls a fox being chased from a burrow by an angry wombat. Meanwhile, the crushed skulls of foxes and dogs in wombat burrows suggest not all intruders are welcome.</p> <p>That a suite of species use wombat burrows suggests wombats may not notice or care about squatters – so long as they don’t pose a threat. But more research is needed on the fascinating interactions that take place in wombat burrows, particularly during fire.</p> <p><strong>The battle is not over</strong></p> <p>While empirical studies are needed, the available evidence suggests wombats may well provide an important refuge for other wildlife during fire.</p> <p>In any case, it’s important to recognise that surviving fire is only <a href="https://theconversation.com/animal-response-to-a-bushfire-is-astounding-these-are-the-tricks-they-use-to-survive-129327">half the battle</a>.</p> <p>Wombats and their house guests face a medley of challenges post-fire – not least avoiding predators in a barren landscape and eking out a living in a landscape with scarce food.</p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dale-nimmo-15432">Dale Nimmo</a>, Associate professor/ARC DECRA fellow, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/charles-sturt-university-849">Charles Sturt University</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/tales-of-wombat-heroes-have-gone-viral-unfortunately-theyre-not-true-129891">original article</a>.</em></p>

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