Out of tragedy come great acts of kindness

Even heroes are human

I was deeply saddened by the passing of our good friend, Craig Neilson recently. Craig had been a leading figure in the team dragging Torbay Hospital Radio into the future when the future looked difficult due to COVID and other problems, but he never shirked the challenge. 

This week I have again been deeply saddened by the very sad passing of Rob Burrow, a rugby league star who passed on 2nd June. How could a man at the young age of 41 be taken from his friends and family so early in life?

I am not a rugby league fan and prefer the union version of the sport, but I was aware of the incredible fight of the Union Scotsman Doddie Weir, who decided to fight this dreadful illness and ensure that the illness would not define the man. Doddie lost his battle in November 2022 but his foundation lives on. 

In 2019, Rob announced he had been diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease (MND) – a neurodegenerative disease. Kevin Sinfield was a former teammate of Rob’s, at Leeds Rhinos and Kevin Sinfield made me and anyone who would listen, aware of his best pal Rob's situation. Having also represented England, he and Rob shared many memories at an elite level together, but both knew this was the fight of all fights.

(Burrow's good friend Kevin Sinfield pictured here with Leeds Rhinos in 2011 and dedicated his life to undertaking remarkable sporting challenges in order to raise funds and awareness about MND research)

Kevin proves to me that there are some amazing people in our communities who value their friends and family as the most important things in their lives. 

Following Rob's diagnosis Kevin dedicated his life to undertaking remarkable sporting challenges in order to raise funds to support his friend, Rob. He worked tirelessly to raise awareness about MND research. Kevin’s fundraising began in 2020 when he said he was ‘just going for a run’ with a friend to support charities and has gone from strength to strength. Kevin’s fundraising efforts over the years have been remarkable, having raised more than £8 million, and counting, for MND charities. 

I am totally in awe of all of these men, and they have inspired me to work within my community to hopefully make somebodies life a bit better.

I am not an athlete, and cannot run the length of me, ( or even the circumference) but I can do my bit by helping the patients in Torbay, Newton Abbot and Brixham hospitals, by brightening their days with the station’s eclectic choice of music to hopefully make them smile.

I know I will never achieve what these wonderful guys have done, but we can all do something for our communities. Torbay Hospital Radio relies on volunteers to help us help our patients, but with your support, I know we can do it.

If you want to be part of this challenge please contact us via our website at www.Torbayhospitalradio.com, but if you can’t do that, we understand,  and just hope you can come to our outside events and give your small change to help us make somebodies life better.

(Torbay Hospital Radio host Keith Reeves on air pictured here)