West Ham United fan Richard Abrahams and Martin McBrien were surprised by first-team stars Edson Álvarez and Dinos Mavropanos after completing a staggering 70-mile 'Luke's Legacy' walk from Northampton Town's Sixfields Stadium to London Stadium last week in honour of Richard's son and Martin's friend, Luke Abrahams.
Luke - a Hammers fan and well-known amateur footballer in the Northampton area - sadly died aged 20 in January 2023 from sepsis and necrotising fasciitis (NF), having initially being diagnosed with tonsillitis and then sciatica after developing leg pain.
His condition worsened, and after being taken to hospital and discovering the full extent of his illness, his leg was amputated but he tragically died the next day. His death was originally recorded as being down to natural causes, and no inquest was scheduled. However, after his family sought legal assistance, the coroner agreed to hold a hearing. An inquest opened and adjourned in November 2024, with the next hearing set for June.
The three-day walk, completed to increase awareness and raise money for The UK Sepsis Trust and The Lee Spark NF Foundation, commenced on Monday 5 May and was broken down into three stages, with Richard and Martin walking 31 miles on Monday, 32 miles on Tuesday, and the remaining miles on Wednesday, before being given a rapturous applause on their arrival at London Stadium.
“Not just us as a family, but as a big community in Northampton, we want to keep Luke's legacy alive because we don't want any other parent to go through what we’ve been through,” an emotional Richard told whufc.com.
“It’s been a very difficult challenge. At times we’ve asked ourselves, ‘Do we give up?’ because we were walking through fields that were probably about a foot wide.
“We did 31 miles on the first day (Monday) and 32 miles on Tuesday, which was the hardest one because we ended up starting at 8.30am and finishing at 10.30pm. We feel as though we need to do things like this to keep Luke’s legacy alive, and we're both delighted to have completed it.”
Along the way, Richard and Martin were thrilled to get the chance to meet former West Ham captain and current Northampton Town manager, Kevin Nolan.
“It was very special,” said Martin. “He (Nolan) sent us a little message before we set off, and then we got to go and have pictures taken on the pitch as well, which helped us massively.
“We’ve had a lot of support online, on our JustGiving page, which is now at almost triple the initial target, and we’ve had a lot of messages that we read along the way that have kept us going.
“It’s been unbelievable (the support from West Ham) because we want to get Luke’s story out there as much as we possibly can.
“I did a marathon last year with Jake, Luke’s little brother, and another friend in Chester, and we have a charity football match coming up, too. He was a person who was loved by a lot of people, and he went way too early. They’re such a lovely family, some of the nicest people you could meet, and they didn’t deserve this.”
As the pair crossed the finish line, they couldn't have known what was waiting for them. Exhausted after the final part of their walk, Richard, Martin and the rest of the family were greeted by smiling duo Álvarez and Mavropanos, who were quick to commend their valiant effort and present them with a signed shirt.
“As soon as the Club found out that Richard and Martin were walking all the way from Northampton to London Stadium, we wanted to surprise them, be here and give them a shirt as a gift,” said Mavropanos.
“I think it's really important the Club is included in these kinds of moments, because you could see how emotional Richard became when we surprised him and gave him the shirt as a gift.
“It's really important that fans and the Club are connected and we can share some of these emotions together. Richard’s a massive fan of West Ham, so to be here and show our support on a day like today and give him this little gift was special because it gave him a lot of happiness deep inside. We are also very happy for him to have achieved this long walk and raised a lot of money for charity as part of Luke’s legacy.”
Richard added: “This [support from West Ham] today has just been unbelievable. I'm shocked. To meet Edson and Dinos was incredible.
“This Club means so much to me. I’ve supported West Ham since I was five years old, and this I can't thank West Ham enough for; it's been amazing.”
