On April 23, Andrew Regan was playing rugby union for the Orange Emus in the Blowes Clothing Cup and suffered a severe spinal injury.

The incident has left Regan an incomplete quadriplegic and while he has said in a statement "life will look very different", the outpouring of support from so many people near and wide has amazed he, his family and friends.

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A GoFundMe page, titled 'Rally for Reegs, was set-up for Regan, his wife Jessie, and their 12-month-old son Gus on Wednesday afternoon and by midday on Thursday the total raised was already more than $170,000.

"Every little donation makes such a big difference to Andrew and Jessie's future," family friend Cara Becker said.

"I think the family has been really overwhelmed by the community support of this initiative and support throughout the whole ordeal.

"It's been amazing and really moving. We really appreciate the community getting behind the Rally for Reegs."

The community sport aspect has been on show in a big way.

Regan and his family have lived in many places around the state and everywhere he went, he would join the local rugby club.

Dubbo was one those places and Regan spent seasons with the Kangaroos club before making the move to Orange.

"It's something that's really shone," Becker said.

"Those clubs are often the backbone of regional communities. When those groups come together you see that, everyone really looks after each other in a lot of ways in regional Australia and this is a perfect example of it.

"People in Dubbo are donating, people in Orange are donating and everyone is getting behind them and doing all they can to support them."

Such has been the avalanche of support, Regan made a statement on behalf of himself and his family to state how much it all meant.

"The messages of love and support are getting through and having a real impact," he said.

"While we are effectively a single income household for now, we are incredibly rich in support.

"I love my wife and my baby and I will get out of this and life will look very different for me but still very full."

Immediately after the accident last month, Regan received significant medical assistance on the rugby field and, following initial investigation at Orange Base Hospital, was priority airlifted to Royal North Shore Hospital.

Eight-hour surgery followed as he had sustained significant damage to his C4 and C5 vertebrae. Crucially, his spinal cord was not severed, however it was severely damaged. After several days of intubation post-surgery, the road to recovery has now begun.

At this point, he is paralysed from the chest down and has very limited arm movement. It remains too early for doctors to confidently predict a long-term outcome.

There has been "challenging days" and will certainly be more to come but Jessie and, in particular, Gus are already providing plenty of motivation.

"He (Gus) is absolutely the inspiration," Becker said.

"They're thinking about the future and Andrew has said they will still have a very full life and I think that will underpin the recovery from here."

Somewhat fittingly, the Emus and Kangaroos play each other in Dubbo this weekend.

"We'll show the GoFundMe wherever we can but I also believe there's going to be some on-ground initiatives when the two teams play this weekend," Becker said.

"It's a bit of a fortuitous moment that both communities will be together."

Any funds raised will go directly to the family to help with needs and living expenses moving forward, including medical expenses, rehabilitation, accommodation, necessary medical equipment, and the needs of Gus.

The Kangaroos and Emus will play in four senior grades at No. 1 Oval on Saturday.

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