Team Clarkey Boy: Wakefield Trinity put on ‘awesome’ day in honour of Daryl Powell’s grandson

An emotional Daryl revealed in the build up to the fixture that his grandson, Clarke, had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in January, just three days before his first birthday.

Since then, the brave youngster has spent almost every day and night in hospital, and has had four long, gruelling months filled with chemotherapy, and blood and platelet transfusions. And there is still more treatment to come.

In support, the club held a ‘Team Clarkey Boy’ fundraiser in aid of Candlelighters Trust, a charity which aids children, and their families, in Yorkshire living with cancer, during the game with Leigh.

The charity provided accommodation close to the hospital so that Clarke had his family nearby, as well as supporting the family with therapy and emotional support, with Team Clarkey Boy being set up to help raise money for the work that Candlelighters do and to aid them in helping other families.

In a very special family moment, ahead of kick off, the two teams were led out by Daryl, who was carrying his granddaughter, Reeva, and Kegan who came out with a smiling Clarke who was wearing a superhero cape.

The Wakefield players wore special shirts, with the ‘Team Clarkey Boy’ logo on, for the match, which will be auctioned off to raise money for Candlelighters, while bucket collections took place.

So far, almost £14,000 has been raised on the ‘Team Clarkey Boy for Candlelighters’ JustGiving page, which was set up by Clarke’s mother, and Daryl’s daughter, Kegan Richardson.

Assistant head coach Michael Shenton said after Trinity’s Round 14 clash, which they dramatically lost 20-24:

“The awareness it’s created is awesome. We have known for a while what has been going on. It’s a massive thing for Daryl and his family to go through.

“It is a challenge but the support he has been given has been class. The club doing something like this is quite unique and just shows what a great club it is becoming.

“I am really pleased that everybody has got behind it. Result aside, it has been a really positive day.”

To donate to ‘Team Clarkey Boy for Candlelighters’ visit: https://www.justgiving.com/page/team-clarkey-boy-candlelighters?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL&utm_campaign=015