VIDEO: "Glad We Inherited 'A Kerry' With Wrexham AFC"

Kerry who is Wrexham AFC's disability liaison officer says supporting her local club over the years has actually saved her life. She had just turned thirty when she suffered a form of a stroke, it left her paralysed on her right side and needing to use a wheelchair.

Recently the club made headlines across the world when Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney announced they were the new owners. Whilst all the media buzzed about the change of ownership we started hearing more and more about what had been achieved off the pitch whilst fans ran the club. A name that kept on popping up was Kerry's. We also learnt that the duo said they were 'glad they inherited a Kerry with Wrexham.' That intrigued us and we wanted to share her story with you.

WATCH full interview here:

As a young mum - the health crisis turned her family's life upside down. She told us "It was a tough few years. To begin with the shock was enormous. My husband had to come out of full time work to care for me. My house was not adapted. I had no bathroom facilities it was quite hard going. It was a big shock. For the first twelve months I think you grieve for the person you were before. But with time...we started to pick ourselves up."

It's now fifteen years since Kerry went into a wheelchair. 11 Kerry finished her job at 30 and thought her working life was over. As a season ticket holder at Wrexham she heard about a job coming up as disability liaison officer at the club. By this time she started getting her confidence back and decided to go for it: "It was 11, 12 years on from me going in a wheelchair and I thought I could do that. I owe everything to Wrexham football club. I didn't think I had a chance but the fact they gave me that opportunity means the world to me. There are so many people in wheelchairs who say I could not do it, I cannot work. I hope this proves you can do it and you can achieve."

She has made huge strides with the side - it became the first in the league to introduce accessible away travel, telling us: "I felt every single person should have the same opportunities. The fact that our able bodies fans went away on away days - why should disabled fans not have that experience. I organise the bus, purchase the tickets form the away game, I run that service - it has changes lives. We have a young fan that had never been to away game because his parents were not comfortable travelling out of the area to take him. So he went to his very first away game. I've had a grown man in tears the first time he travelled away with us. The atmosphere on that bus is unbelievable."

Kerry has also been instrumental in developing the autism support provided by the club. They were the first football club in Wales to get Autism Friendly Status from the National Autistic Society and it is changing lives. Kerry says: "Families told us they would not be able to attend Wrexham football club and sit among the crowd - that would not be possible. Now we have this quiet zone we have accessible stewards - familiar faces - a sensory room, waitress service pitch side as I felt it was so important that people did not queue in a concourse. We looked at the fact a lot of people could not come through the turnstiles so we have an accessible entrance away from the crowds. It's our little bit of TLC because that is what people get in that area. Familiar faces, repetition of how it works - we offer blankets, ponchos, sensory items and I funded autism friendly packs - ear defenders, fidget spinners, stress balls and some club memorabilia. They've gone down very well. I felt every single fan that wants to attend Wrexham AFC can do so, every home game of our season."

When Wrexham AFC was fan owned, Kerry had no budget and created all these big changes for the club by fundraising using her own money. She says: "I am delighted to say in the conversations I've already had with Ryan and Rob - they are very much buying into the community side of the club as well as the first team on the pitch. I was worried wondering if we would still be able to have the area we have for autistic fans. They said to me: 'Do you need more space? Do you need the area bigger?' - at that point the realisation was they are buying into this. If we can make a difference to bring more people in, they are buying into this. It is very exciting from my point of view that I've got their backing of the job I am doing, from them and that it is very important to them - the difference I am making. So the fact we now have them on board hopefully things I couldn't achieve fan owned because I could only raise so many funds hopefully those things will slot into place now that we have the extra funding and backing."

Kerry is looking forward to welcoming Ryan and Rob to the club once it is safe for fans to return to the Racecourse. She told us: "I am still waiting to wake from the dream. There's definitely going to be a party. They keep promising fans they cannot wait to have a beer with them when they come over. They're desperate to try our Wrexham lager - so I mean they keep saying as soon as they can possibly get here - subject to plane travel - they will be here. We are still waiting to get fans back into the club. I think once we get the green light for fans to return, they will be here. I am very excited."