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Sitting in Rob’s garden a couple of days ago, watching his children play on the trampoline, I can see his face light up as his daughter Macy does another dizzying somersault.She bounces back onto her feet and curtsies to us ‑ just like the gymnasts she’s seen at the Olympics.

In that moment part of me understands what he means when he says he’s lucky. He glows with pride. He’s surrounded by the rough and tumble, the chaos of family life. But more than anything he’s surrounded by love.

A member of the all-conquering Leeds Rhinos rugby league team, he is a sporting hero. But around here he’s just Daddy.

Rob Burrow was diagnosed with motor neurone disease 20 months ago. Back then the doctor said he had around two years to live.

After the initial shock of the diagnosis, he set his mind to defying the odds. For a man of 5ft4in who played rugby league at the highest level, I would not dare to bet against him now.

I say that because Rob and his wife Lindsey are not just people that we have worked with on BBC Breakfast. They have made us all feel like part of the family.

We have been with them for the highs and lows, shared the little victories and commiserated with them when the disease knocks them back.

I sometimes marvel at how open they’ve been with us, from the very first day.

Our story started in December 2019. I was working at BBC Sports Personality Of The Year with my brilliant producer Claire Ryan.

We are a team. If you’ve ever seen me do something that looks good on television, you can bet Claire has organised it.

Every year we go backstage to share some of the insight you don’t get from the glossy programme. It’s one of my favourite jobs of the year.

That night we were following our plan ‑ filming backstage during the live show as the winners came to talk to us. But that year was different. Something happened in the auditorium that still gives me goosebumps when I remember it now.

Former Scotland and Lions rugby legend Doddie Weir was given the Helen Rollason special award by Princess Anne. As he walked slowly through the crowd, the bagpipes played Flower of Scotland and everyone stood for him.

On stage he talked about his battle with MND and how he wasn’t going to give in ‑ how he was using his competitive edge to fight and fight and fight.

Little did we know that in Yorkshire, Rob Burrow was watching that speech having been diagnosed just a few days earlier.

I knew Doddie through rugby-playing friends, and the next day we chatted with him and his family at breakfast. 

We made a plan to meet up and film something with him, his charitable foundation and the search for a cure.

But before we could do that, the news about Rob was made public.

At that point our editor Richard Frediani gave us the go-ahead to start filming with Rob and Doddie and the former footballer Stephen Darby, three men with the worst news in common.

All three had played professional sport at the highest level, all three had been told they had a terminal disease that would leave them locked in a body that no longer works. The first time we got them together was in Scotland in a lovely hotel, not too far from Doddie’s house.

We had one of the most remarkable conversations I can remember.

Nothing was off limits and I hope in some way that interview helped them and many other people watching at home. They spoke about their fears for themselves and their families, and all of them said they didn’t like the idea of needing to be looked after in any way.

On that day, in a little room in Scotland, Rob Burrow said those words that have stayed with us all. “I’m not giving up now. I’ve got too many reasons to live”

Then the world changed.

Just as we started filming the documentary with Rob in Yorkshire, the country went into lockdown.

It was the worst possible timing for a man who had just been told he has a terminal disease and is desperate to make memories with his young family.

Their dream family holiday to Florida didn’t happen. The parties and family get-togethers were put on hold.

And for our documentary team, we suddenly had to find a way to keep working while protecting Rob from Covid. Our biggest worry was Rob getting sick. I started travelling to Yorkshire to spend time with all the family. Rob’s mum and dad, Geoff and Irene met me at his old rugby club, Featherstone Juniors.

As we stood on the pitch together, Geoff wondered whether he was to blame for encouraging Rob to play rugby as a child.

Irene said she was only managing to get by because the doctor has given her medication to help her cope. Geoff broke down briefly ‑ the only time I’ve ever seen him do that. The rest of the time he is fighting for his son, looking for a cure, looking for anything that might buy them some time.

I know they probably don’t want to be in the spotlight, talking on television about these things but they are doing it for Rob. I’m so lucky to be their friend and when Geoff sends me messages now he calls me “our Sally”. It’s my privilege to know them.

That summer we all went to the North Yorkshire coast together ‑ if Florida wasn’t happening then the traditional Burrow family holiday was definitely going ahead.

We met at the caravan park where Rob’s children ‑ Macy, Maya and Jackson ‑ could play on the swings and run down to the sea with their grandparents, aunties and uncles. It was magical.

With lockdown easing off a little, Rob was determined to make sure the children had fun: “If the kids are happy then I’m happy”.

But the reality of MND was right in front of us. Rob could no longer walk unaided and needed a wheelchair to get around. If Lindsey was finding it hard, she never showed it.

I think Rob’s determination even inspired our team at BBC Breakfast.

He is a Rugby League superstar ‑ but the sport doesn’t get huge national coverage. We knew if we could put our film together and show the country this incredible story, everyone would fall in love with him a little bit, just like we had.

So we convinced the network bosses to broadcast “Rob Burrow My Year with MND” on BBC Two in early October.

It had a huge reaction and now our documentary with Rob has been nominated for a prestigious National Television Award. 

The closing shots are Rob using new technology to speak to us for the first time. He just said: “Hi Sal”. I cried my eyes out but you won’t see that bit in the film.

What you will see is a story about love and hope and never giving up. You will see a family hoping for the best while the worst is coming. We know Rob is trying to rewrite the stars. But we will all keep trying with him for as long as we can. 

To vote for the documentary at the National Televisions Awards go to www.nationaltvawards.com/vote

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