A wife has paid tribute to her "incredible" husband as Nottingham Forest fans plan to honour him at a match. Luke Barnes, of Mapperley, sadly passed away on Friday, March 17 after he lost his long-time battle with Cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that makes it harder for the heart to pump blood to the rest of the body.
The 34 year old was known for his love of Nottingham Forest, and so his friends and members of the football community will be honouring Luke during the Nottingham Forest vs Wolverhampton Wolves match on Saturday, April 1. At the 34th minute of the match, they will come together in a round of applause to remember Luke and show his family their support.
When asked how she felt about the plans, Luke's wife, Isobel said: "It's amazing, it's what he would have wanted. It feels so nice to see support and I know how many people were touched by his story, so to see the football crowd getting behind him, I'm just going to cry the whole time."
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Isobel, who is a 999 call handler for East Midlands Ambulance service, explained that Luke was a big sports fan and "massively got behind Forest during our relationship." She said it was her dad who got Luke into Forest and "they used to go to games together and they bonded really well over the football."
Luke formerly played semi-professional rugby for Mansfield rugby club, but "was very sick for quite a while and he wasn't able to be as active."
Isobel, 22, added: "Which is why he really got behind watching sport and going to a lot more games and things like that as he wasn't able to get out."
Before he sadly passed away Luke, an IT service desk manager, had been in hospital for a number of months after it was found during a check up in November 2022 that his kidney was starting to deteriorate due to the reduced function of his heart. Isobel explained: "He had been in the hospital for four months on a machine called a by BiVAD, which is a life support for your heart, it's like a mechanical heart pump."
Describing Luke, Isobel stated: "There's no words that would do him justice. He was just fearless, he was honest and just incredible.
"He would always light up a room and he was always cracking the most stupid jokes and could always put a smile on someone's face. He was just the most beautiful person inside and out, and I'm very lucky that I got to spend my life with him."
She continued: "When we actually turned off his life support it was actually at the kick-off off Forest vs Newcastle game, and we had Mull of Kintyre playing in the background as they withdrew his care which was a really beautiful moment. As when Luke was in hospital my dad used to go to all the games and would Facetime us when Mull of Kintyre was on so we could soak in the atmosphere."
A fundraiser has been set up on behalf of the family to help raise money for Luke's funeral. The Go Fund Me link can be found here.
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