Former England midfielder Geoff Thomas has teamed up with five fellow blood cancer survivors to launch a new video campaign encouraging football fans to help him call full-time on leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma.
The video, shot at Selhurst Park, is being screened at around 30 grounds across the UK - including Anfield, White Hart Lane, and Celtic Park - to inspire fans to get behind the Geoff Thomas Foundation, which is dedicated to beating blood cancers.
The Geoff Thomas Foundation, one of Football Association’s official charities for 2010, was set up by the former Crystal Palace captain after he was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) in 2003, less than a year after retiring from football.
Thomas’ life was saved by a stem cell transplant from his sister in 2004. Now, he is working closely with the charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research to get better treatments to blood cancer patients, faster.
Geoff, 46, says: “I’m lucky to have survived leukaemia – sadly many people still lose their battles with a blood cancer. The courage shown by patients around me has inspired me to do everything I can to help those touched by these awful diseases.
“I’m determined to beat blood cancers, but I need your help.”
One of the five patients, aged between 7 and 67, taking part in the campaign is 21-year-old Daisy Turner, who was diagnosed with the blood disorder, myelodysplastic syndrome when she was 16 and was saved by a stem cell transplant.
Daisy says: “Shooting the video was great fun and it was lovely to meet Geoff. He’s done so much work so brilliantly and so passionately, and I’m sure that by working with Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research he will help even more people diagnosed with a blood cancer.”