A Givealittle page has been created to help support Black Caps bowler Blair Tickner and his wife Sarah after she was diagnosed with leukemia.

Sarah Tickner is undergoing treatment in England where the Central Districts star is currently playing county cricket for Derbyshire.

“As you may be aware, we all received some awful news about Sarah’s health. She has been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a form of blood cancer,” the page says.

“To make matters worse they were delivered this news while serving the winter in the UK as Blair is playing cricket for Derbyshire in the County championship. Sarah is unable to travel home to New Zealand and will be starting chemotherapy in the UK in the coming days.

“The New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association is supporting them and it’s likely that other cricket organisations will help as well. However, there is no doubt Sarah, Blair and Flo will need all our support over the medium to long term. Being in another country with limited family support is going to be a challenge enough and then there will no doubt be other challenges as they work through the treatment and recovery Sarah will require. All funds raised will go towards helping in a range of areas where support can’t be met elsewhere, including family travel, accommodation and some healthcare costs. This will be a long battle for the family which the money that is raised will assist greatly in the months ahead. Sarah is so incredibly strong and we have no doubt she will get through this but our support is needed to make this battle a little easier on them.

“Sarah and Blair are known for putting smiles on our faces in the HB community in everything they do, now it’s our turn to try and support them through this tough time.”

A goal of $25,000 has been set.

Blair and Sarah are well known in the Hawke’s Bay region, being owners and operators of the 13th Stag cafe at the Mitre 10 Sports Park between Hastings and Napier.

The pair arrived in England last month along with nine-month-old daughter Flo with Blair making his Derbyshire by taking two wickets against Glamorgan.

It’s been a whirlwind few years for the couple with a wedding, Tickner’s test debut, Cyclone Gabrielle striking the Hawke’s Bay region followed by the birth of their first child.

Tickner made his test debut for New Zealand last February with four wickets against England at Bay Oval, but his mind wasn’t completely on the monumental match, with Cyclone Gabrielle having just torn apart his hometown of Hastings.

He was visibly emotional as he spoke to the press about the devastation he returned to.

“Obviously, you grow up there as a kid … it’s just crazy, to be honest, it’s hard to talk about, to be honest,” he said.

He spoke about what he thought his first test would look like, the dream of seeing your family and friends in the crowd cheering, a dream dashed by the storm.

By chance, he said his dad was able to stop in for half an hour as he was picking up generators for the people in Hawke’s Bay, just in time to see him take his first test wicket, before going on to make the seven-hour drive back home.

This article was originally published on the NZ Herald here.