This was published 7 years ago
Brumbies Man and Brumbies Boy to walk in Light the Night for Christian Lealiifano and the Leukaemia Foundation
By Megan Doherty
Trevor Hancock is usually a public servant; his 10-year-old son Joshua usually a student at Duffy Primary School. But come game day, they transform into super-fans, Brumbies Man and Brumbies Boy.
And when it's the Vikings playing they become, you guessed it, Vikings Man and Vikings Boy.
Vikings player Christian Lealiifano with Vikings Man aka Trevor Hancock and Vikings Boy aka Joshua Hancock (left) and younger brother Ben Hancock.
For the Brumbies, Trevor dons a particularly eye-watering canary-yellow suit - which he says he made himself - with a brilliant blue top hat and tie.
Joshua keeps it more old-school with Brumbies jersey and cap but when the Vikings play, he and dad both get out the horned helmets.
Brumbies player Christian Lealiifano with Brumbies Man aka Trevor Hancock and Brumbies Boy (middle) aka Joshua Hancock and younger brother Ben Hancock. The family say Christian is a special player on and off the field.
One of their favourite players for both teams is Christian Lealiifano, who was recently diagnosed with leukaemia, and both dad and son wanted to do something to show their support for him.
"He's always very nice and a real inspiration," Joshua said.
"You can just feel his passion for the game and it's very sad to see him sick."
So Brumbies Man and Brumbies Boy will be walking in Light the Night, a twilight walk in Canberra on Friday, October 14 which also includes lighting a lantern for someone affected by a blood cancer such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma.
The annual fundraising walk will help more Australians beat blood cancer by improving survival rates and quality of life.
Trevor said Christian was a special player on and off the field.
"He is one of the most engaging players off the field. He's always the last to leave when people are wanting autographs," he said.
"We were absolutely devastated when we heard the news. We just want to show him that we love him and we hope that he gets better."
And in the spirit of the Brumbies calling for 20,000 fans to attend games so they can donate $20,000 to various appeals, Trevor would like 20,000 Brumbies fans to sign up to do the Light the Night Walk.
"If 20,000 people raised just $10 each that's $200,000 to go towards research so that no other Brumbies player - or anyone else - has to go through this illness," he said.
(We also hear Trevor has been nominated for the Australian Rugby Union's Volunteer of the Year for his work with Royals.)
The Light the Night walk is a gentle one hour stroll around the Kingston foreshore starting near the Canberra glassworks at 7.15pm on October 14.
Registration and lantern collection is from 5.30pm and on-stage entertainment starts at 6pm.
Updates are available at lightthenight.org.au. To donate to the group go to website, click donate and search the group name Brumbies Fan Supporting Christian!.