Ryan Reynolds Saved the Day After Wrexham Star's Wife Diagnosed With Inoperable Brain Tumor

The most recent episodes of FX's Welcome to Wrexham have largely dealt with the veritable money pit the footfall club has become for co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who acquired the team in 2020. And in this week's new episode, "Worst Case Scenario," the pair learned of the financial consequences should Wrexham not get promoted, which was essentially the entire business plan they had been banking on.

However, thanks to Reynolds swooping in to save the day, one of the Wrexham players received a "best case scenario."

Midfielder Anthony Forde had been away from team since Feb. 28, in the episode which was filmed in April. Just days after his partner Laura had given birth to the couple's first child, she began to notice that her left arm was "feeling a little strange" and that her coordination was off. As she has since shared on Instagram, weeks later an MRI revealed that she had an inoperable, incurable grade 3 or 4 brain tumor, and that the likely outcome was a short life expectancy.

"It just didn't feel like it was real," Forde said while explaining the ordeal in front of the cameras.

"The gaffer told the owners why I wasn't involved and stuff ... they heard the news and, you know, they reached out. Ryan helped get a second opinion," he said in a voice over, as Reynolds warmly greeted the couple on the field.

"And we've sent some stuff to get a second opinion, which again ... he doesn't have to do that," Forde continued. "We got full results on Tuesday and it was—obviously we weren't sure, after the update, what the full results would be because obviously things can change. But it basically was the best case scenario from what we were first told."

After undergoing a biopsy, Laura was re-diagnosed with a grade 1 Thalamic pilocytic astrocytoma benign brain tumor. She would get to watch their son Paddy grow up, after all.

"In another way, it's been hard to process because it's gone from the worst news possible to the best news possible in the space of a few weeks," Laura added, of the surreal turn of events. "Obviously it's amazing, but in terms of just mentally, being able to process it ... I found it a little challenging, but we're getting there."

But that wasn't the end of the positive updates in the episode. As we now know, Wrexham would go on to win a crucial game against Yeovil Town, and eventually clinch the games needed for the team's promotion.