L to R Bill Manson (Community Liaison Director), Adrienne Wylie, Stephen Henderson (Chairman), Nadia McMullan, Curtis Allen, Joanne Badger (Leukaemia & Lymphoma NI Co-Ordinator), Richard Buchanan (Leukaemia & Lymphoma NI Chairman), John McGuigan, Gary Haveron & John Moore (Director).
Glentoran Football Club is delighted to announce that, following on from our successful partnership with ‘Struggle Against Muscular Dystrophy’ last season, the club has partnered with local blood cancer research charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma NI as our official charity for the 2017/2018 season.
Three people in Northern Ireland are diagnosed with blood cancer every day, making it the United Kingdom’s fifth most common cancer by diagnosis and the third biggest killer. This frightening statistic is a stark reminder that although research has come a long way the outlook for many blood cancer patients remains poor.
Leukaemia and Lymphoma NI is the only charity in Northern Ireland dedicated to funding research into the causes and cures of blood cancers. Established as the Northern Ireland Leukaemia Research Fund by the McDowell family in 1964 following the death of their daughter, the charity has since invested over £12.5 million pounds to life saving research.
Based at the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology (CCRCB) at Queens University Belfast, the charity funds research into the causes and cures of leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma in Northern Ireland by supporting laboratory research, clinical trials and education. All money raised by the charity in Northern Ireland is spent in Northern Ireland and 85% of all money raised goes into research.
The charity is a cause close to the heart to members of the Glentoran family with several supporters having been affected by blood cancer in recent years, particularly young supporter, Francesca Campbell who is currently recovering from a battle with Lymphoma.
As part of their awareness campaign this year the charity recently shared the story of Roy Magee. Roy was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in 2003 and sadly passed away two years later. Roy was a proud husband and father but his big passion in life was football. He lived and breathed the game and through dedicating a huge amount of his time to Glentoran as a Youth Coach, he left behind a lasting legacy with many of the young men he trained. We were delighted that Roy’s widow Adrienne and his daughter Nadia were able to join at the Oval for the announcement of this partnership.
Joanne Badger from Leukaemia & Lymphoma NI said, “We rely solely on public donations so partnerships like this are absolutely crucial in helping us to raise awareness and continue this life-saving research right here in Northern Ireland. We are delighted to have joined in partnership with such a strong, community orientated, iconic institution such as Glentoran and we know this will help raise awareness of our work throughout both East Belfast and through Northern Ireland as a whole.”
The charity website is http://www.leukaemiaandlymphomani.org/ while the charity can be contacted at info@leukaemiaandlymphomani.org .
Photographs by Pacemaker