Kerry Evans: “I found where I fit in life - I just want to make a difference”

Meeting Hollywood stars wasn't in the job description for Wrexham AFC's Disability Liaison Officer. But then again, Kerry Evans never expected the football club to be taken over by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. The club's fairytale rise from National League to the Championship has achieved worldwide fame in hit documentary series Welcome to Wrexham on Disney+, and one of its most powerful success stories belongs to Kerry, whose determined efforts have revolutionised accessibility for disabled fans.

Kerry, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 18 months old, suffered a cerebral bleed that left her paralysed down her right side aged 30 in September 2005, changing the course of her life. "I had no symptoms, and then I collapsed," she recalls. Tests revealed that areas of her brain had been irreversibly damaged and she wouldn't walk again. "That shattered our lives," she says. "We'd only been married three years, we both worked full time and my daughter was only seven. I had picked her up on the Friday, standing with all the other mums, and by the following week she was telling people her mum would never walk again."

A sense of belonging

In those first 12 months Kerry lost her confidence, but football - in particular, Wrexham - saved her. In 2013, her husband, Kings, signed up to host Wrexham's radio show and then he launched a podcast. As his involvement grew, he invited Kerry along to the club and, before she knew it, she was a season ticket holder. "It gave me a sense of belonging," she says.

In 2016, fate struck; the couple went to an away match in Macclesfield, where a man in a manual wheelchair introduced himself as Andy, the Disability Liaison Officer (DLO). "He asked if we'd been before, explained where we'd sit, showed us where the toilets were, offered me a blanket and at halftime he arrived with cupcakes. I said to my husband: 'Wrexham needs an Andy." Eight months later they were advertising for this role and Kerry was offered the position.

In the early days, Kerry focused on wheelchair users. "You get absolutely freezing because you're not moving like everybody else, so I bought blankets, and I had a company donate wheelchair ponchos for wet days," she recalls.

Next came accessible away travel. "I felt it was unfair that wheelchair users couldn't go to away games," says Kerry. She was told accessible transport was unaffordable, so she set about sourcing the money herself. "I did quiz nights and fundraisers, we sold red blankets with the club crest and I organised bucket collections. On the first trip I had grown men in tears because they'd never been to an away game before. It was incredible." In 2003, Wrexham was the first club in the UK to host an autism-friendly fixture. As DLO, Kerry asked why that couldn't be done for every game. She got in touch with the National Autistic Society and set to work, asking for an area of 165 seats to make a quiet zone. She got a yes, so began making the area "appealing for families". "We have a separate entrance, avoiding turnstiles and the main concourse, and stewards who are all fully trained in Makaton, and we provide ear defenders, weighted blankets, weighted teddies and sensory items in the seats."

Next came the sensory room, which started out as a derelict kiosk at the back of the quiet zone. "With help from many volunteers, we put in a false ceiling, spotlights, a TV [to project calming imagery] and heaters. So many people said to me: 'You've given me my child back because I'm able to bring them now," says Kerry. Of everything she's done, she feels proudest of the quiet zone: "It's helped so many families – it's my biggest achievement."

In 2021, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney took over Wrexham AFC, which was then only in the National League. "My husband and I kept looking at each other thinking 'this is bonkers'." Kerry's approval was key – in fact, Rob called her personally before the deal was done. "They've been amazing. People ask how it's different – the difference is I'm no longer outside selling blankets and raising my own funds," she says.

Hollywood goes to Wrexham

There have been special moments, too. Kerry started a powerchair football team and, when Ryan and Rob visited Wrexham for the first time, they watched the team play. They were given "equal importance to the men's and women's squads", says Kerry. "I absolutely loved it."

Life changed overnight: "One day there were no cameras, the next they were everywhere. You'd get a call saying 'we want to come to your house." This was tough for Kerry. "Every time they asked, I said no because we were still coming out of Covid and I'd been told I was on the critical list. In the end they said: 'If we don't come, we won't be able to put you in this first series [of Welcome to Wrexham]." Wanting to highlight her work, she agreed.

Wrexham's ground, Stok Cae Ras (The Racecourse), is the world's oldest international football stadium still in use, which presents challenges. A case in point is a Changing Places toilet; they currently have a mobile unit because "we're such an old stadium there is nowhere internally where we've got the space", explains Kerry. The club is building a new Kop stand, though, which she has ensured will have a Changing Places toilet facility.

"We've put a platform behind the goal for four wheelchair users and their companions. We also have a two-tiered platform in the away section so they can be with their own fans," she says. Usually, a wheelchair user’s companion sits behind them. "I hate that! We have non-verbal wheelchair users – how can they get the attention of someone sitting behind them?" says Kerry, who seats them side by side, despite the extra room it takes. In the new Kop stand there will be even more spaces.

"We also have areas where you can take a second person. We have a little boy, for example, who's in a wheelchair, daddy is his companion, but he brings his eight-year-old brother, too." It's this kind of impact that drives Kerry. "It's a vocation, not a job. I've found where I fit in life, and I just want to make a difference." She won the National League's Volunteer of the Year award in 2019, and was nominated for the Women of the Year Awards in 2025, but, she says, "it's not about accolades".

When it comes to what holds other clubs back, Kerry says "you don't come across many DLOs with disabilities themselves". It's arguably why Wrexham was one of the first football clubs to have stoma-friendly accessible toilets - Kerry has stomas. "While I only knew of three people within our 10,500 capacity who had them, I knew it would help." She liaised with Colostomy UK and made the changes needed. "Ironically, the news piece about it went out at lunchtime, and I was rushed into A&E that evening because I had a hernia that had completely strangulated my bowel. All the nurses were saying 'you're Kerry from Wrexham!" 

A Motability Scheme customer, Kerry says her Volkswagen Transporter has given her independence. "By remote control I can get in, drive independently to work, park up, get out, pick up friends – it's life-changing." She had assumed she would never drive again once paralysed, but she took to it like a duck to water. "It felt as if I'd always driven that way," she says. "My life has been more fulfilled and special as somebody living in a wheelchair than it ever was before."

Two people inspired Kerry to write her memoir, Stronger Than You Think - her nan, who always said "if ever you write a book, nobody would believe it" and Rob McElhenney, who at Wrexham's first promotion party told her: "You make a difference to thousands of people – you inspire me."

"That made me think, I wonder if telling my story would make a difference," says Kerry. Since publication, she has been inundated with people thanking her for sharing her experiences.

Nine years on, Kerry continues to strive to welcome more and more fans. "I want everyone to have the opportunity to come to Wrexham and see live sport. I don't want a barrier. I want them to feel included and have what they need to have an enjoyable time. I want Wrexham to win every game, but the most important thing is that people feel welcome."

Stronger Than You Think: Kerry Evans – The Autobiography by Kerry Evans and Katie Whyatt is out now.

Photos: Andrew Shaylor; Courtesy of Kerry Evans; Lloyd Jones/Wrexham AFC; Robert Stead; Matthew Ashton, Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images