Shrewsbury Town's Joe Riley to walk 40 miles for charity in memory of baby son

Joe Riley and his partner Kayleigh Campbell lost their son, Leo Joseph, who was stillborn at 26 weeks earlier this year.

Now the 26-year-old player and a group of family and friends will walk from Worsley Old Hall in Worsley, Manchester, to Blackpool Tower, in memory of his son.

The funds raised, which have almost topped £3,000 already, will go towards The Royal Bolton Hospital Maternity and Bereavement Unit.

Joe said: "Shrewsbury as a club, a community and fanbase have been terrific with us both, so I can't thank them enough.

"Obviously a lot of Shrewsbury fans have supported the page that I've set up and for them to give their own money to what I'm doing is terrific.

"When I came back to the club, people were great and it's such a nice thing what people have done for us and continue to do."

When Town played Scunthorpe away both sets of supporters rose to applaud in memory of Leo Joseph.

Joe added: "I remember sitting at home and my girlfriend was crying at the time, it's been a rollercoaster.

"The fans have been terrific with me and continue to be terrific with me.

"Kayleigh is stronger than me to be honest, we both found it quite hard at the start but she's honestly a Trojan and she's doing it in honour of him so it's brilliant.

"It's not going to be easy, I'm doing it with a couple of my mates and Kayleigh's dad and brother. We wanted to do something which would be quite fun as well."

Joe and Kayleigh, who have been together four-and-a-half years, will be getting married in Portugal after the play-off final.

Joe added: "We weren't due to get married but it was after this happened I remember her dad saying to me why don't you get married in the summer.

"I said to her when we got out of hospital let's get married and she was all game for it. We've got 40-odd people coming over to Portugal with us.

"It's made us stronger as a family and as a couple definitely."

Joe said that when he came back after his compassionate leave he returned with a different mindset.

"I've had a bit of a different mindset to it all, I don't think you can let things pass you by and certainly personally it was a season to forget but I will certainly be involved in the last few weeks and show I can play a few positions and I'll give it my all," he said.

"I'm doing it in honour of him now, it's going to be a fantastic occasion. No matter what happens it's been a great season but obviously we all know the prize that if we do win it will go down in history and we'll all be remembered as legends."

The group will take on the walk on June 16.

The player, who was signed by former boss Micky Mellon from Bury in 2016, has made 52 Town appearances.

Shrews and Rotherham will meet on Sunday, in a game dubbed as one of the most important in the history of the club.

Almost 10,000 tickets were sold in less than a week for the game that could see them become a Championship club.

Out of an allocation of 20,000 tickets, fans have been busy snapping them up since they went on sale last Wednesday.

As well as tickets being sold online and over the phone, yesterday fans were able to turn up at the ground and purchase tickets in person.

For more information, or to support Joe, visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/leo-joseph-riley