The game rallies round to support stricken Masoe
ALEX WALMSLEY says the whole of rugby league is behind his former team-mate Mose Masoe following his devastating spinal injury.
Hull KR prop Masoe had emergency surgery last week after making a tackle in a pre-season game at Wakefield.
He is continuing his recovery in a specialist unit at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, but has been told that his playing career is over and his focus is now on trying to walk again.
A fund-raising page for Masoe has reached more than £33,000, including a donation from former Leeds Rhinos legend Rob Burrow – himself recently diagnosed with motor neurone disease – and a host of other current players.
Others including St Helens prop Walmsley, above, have auctioned prized shirts to support the 30-year-old and the England prop says that is typical of the sport.
Walmsley, who suffered a broken neck himself two years ago, said: “That’s one thing you can take from rugby league. We might not have the finances and sponsorship of other sports, but there’s a real togetherness and we look after each other. “Mose is a big man but he’s a big character as well. On the field he has this reputation as a physical man who runs hard and tackles hard, but off the field he is a caring, generous person who would do anything for anyone.
“He has definitely got a challenge ahead, but he’s a tough man with a loving, supporting family.”
Walmsley himself suffered a fractured spinal vertebrae in March 2018 that required the insertion of a metal plate, eight screws and a cage into his neck, before being cleared to play again just 10 months later.
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