Preston North End players come together for charity cricket match after cancer diagnosis of Tommy Spurr's three-year-old son

Rio is currently receiving treatment for a rare form of cancer but the family fear that they may exhaust methods to treat their son in the UK and could have to look abroad for further treatments, with money raised also helping the family cope as their jobs have been put on hold – Spurr now a teacher and his wife, Chloe, a beautician.

Rio was diagnosed with cancer in April, and is having to undergo intense chemotherapy, and will also require radiotherapy to his lungs.

Wilms' Tumour, the type of cancer, is only diagnosed in around 80 children in the UK each year and Rio’s is high-risk, meaning there is the potential he may need further treatment only available abroad.

Spurr was joined by a host of names connected to Preston North End at Fulwood and Broughton Cricket Club as a Tommy Spurr XI faced off against a PNE XI.

Amongst those taking part were Ryan Ledson, Tom Barkhuizen, Lewis Leigh, Kian Taylor, Finlay Wallbank, Andy Fensome, Oli Lombard, James Beet, Graeme Atkinson, Paul McKenna, Ian Bryson, Jack Cudworth and Alan Kelly. PNE captain Alan Browne went down to watch some of the match, as did former North End ‘keeper Andy Lonergan who was there all day.

Spurr opened the batting and the bowling for his team, making 14 with the bat alongside opening partner and former North Ender Atkinson, who put up 33.

Former PNE captain McKenna came in at three and top scored for his side, adding 38 to the total before being dismissed by Barkhuizen.

Lombard got the wickets of Cudworth and Kelly cheaply before Spurr’s XI recovered to put up a score of 185.

Barkhuizen and Leigh were the opening batsman for the PNE XI, with the latter run out for one and only his opening partner to thank.

The now Derby County winger forged on however and settled into a good partnership with his former teammate Ledson, the two scoring 28 and 18 respectively before Barkhuizen fell to Alan Kelly’s bowling, and Ledson to Cudworth’s.

A stunning caught and bowled from McKenna dismissed Fensome for seven with Lombard, Beet and Taylor all going for single figures as Spurr’s XI won by 54 runs.

Fund raising efforts continue for the Spurr family, who have a Just Giving page and another event lined up this weekend at Ribchester FC including more former PNE players and some Blackburn Rovers old boys too, with the likes of Jermaine Beckford, John Welsh and Neil Mellor all set to star.

Speaking at the cricket match, where his son Rio was running around and bringing smiles to all of the faces of the spectators, Spurr was grateful for the support he had received so far.

The football community has rallied around the former North End, Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday defender and thankfully the cricket match coincided with a good day for three-year-old Rio.

Spurr said: “Loads of people have come out which is amazing. The lads that have come out, some of the lads that I've played with and ex-players, it just means so much to us, that we've got this support.

"The whole day and organisation, I'm so thankful to Preston and the cricket club for putting it on, and Ben Rhodes [PNE club secretary].

"Preston have always been great to us since I finished my career and it means a lot to us that they'd go out of their way to put something on to help us out.

"You can see how much it means to our little ones. Rio is on one of his good days today so it helps us, it makes memories for us.

"We don't know where this path is going to go so it helps us make new memories and treasure them.

"If we don't try and see the positives on days when Rio's feeling well you can end up going to a dark place.

"It's hard every day to stay out of that dark place but that little boy gives us the strength and the inspiration to keep going and we will do until he gets through it. I do believe he'll beat this.”