\n Luke Bryan sustained the injury aged 17 while playing for Haydock Under 18s in 1996.\n<\/p>\n
\n Despite his life-changing injury and severe disabilities, he was said to have a “remarkably positive outlook on life”.\n<\/p>\n
\n He had been a gifted player, representing his country at 14 on a tour of Russia, as well as playing for Lancashire, Blackbrook and Wigan schools.\n<\/p>\n
\n In a statement Haydock rugby league club said: “Everyone at Haydock Warriors ARLFC are deeply saddened to learn of the sad passing of Luke Bryan passing away peacefully this morning in hospital.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Our condolences to Luke’s family and friends at this sad time\n<\/p>\n
\n “RIP Luke.”\n<\/p>\n
\n FLASHBACK: How we covered Luke\u2019s story in 1996\n<\/p>\n
\n Over the past wo decades Luke, received support from the Rugby League Benevolent Fund, Steve Prescott MBE and the Steve Prescott Foundation\n<\/p>\n
\n In a statement, the Steve Prescott Foundation said: “Over many years of supporting the Rugby League Benevolent Fund, Steve Prescott MBE and the Steve Prescott Foundation became very close friends with Luke and his mum, Christine.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Luke, a former rugby league player, was tragically paralysed from the neck down following a devastating injury sustained in 1996 while playing for Haydock Under 18s.\n<\/p>\n
\n “In 2016, working in conjunction with the Rugby League Benevolent Fund, the Steve Prescott Foundation helped Luke move into a specially adapted home in Haydock.\n<\/p>\n
\n “This gave him a greater level of independence and, most importantly, the opportunity to look out of the window \u2014 a wish personally expressed by Steve Prescott MBE.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Despite his life-changing injury and severe disabilities, Luke retained his wonderful sense of humour and maintained a remarkably positive outlook on life.\n<\/p>\n
\n Luke Bryan\n<\/p>\n
\n “He continued to follow his lifelong passion for rugby league and possessed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game, particularly of his beloved Wigan Warriors.\n<\/p>\n
\n “The Steve Prescott Foundation would like to extend its deepest condolences to Luke\u2019s mum Christine, and his siblings Matthew and Sally, at this incredibly difficult time.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Our thoughts and prayers are with all who knew and loved Luke.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luke Bryan sustained the injury aged 17 while playing for Haydock Under 18s in 1996. Despite his life-changing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-383209","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}